Methods for Jet Studies with Three-Particle Correlations

Abstract

We present a method based on three-particle azimuthal correlation cumulants for studying jet interactions with the medium produced in heavy ion collisions (at RHIC) where jets cannot be reconstructed on an event-by-event basis with conventional jet-finding algorithms. The method is specifically designed to distinguish a range of jet interaction mechanisms such as Mach cone emission, gluon Cerenkov emission, jet scattering, and jet broadening. We describe how anisotropic flow contributions of second order (e.g. v22) are suppressed in three-particle azimuthal correlation cumulants, and discuss specific model representations of di-jets, away-side scattering, and Mach cone emission.