Hard Probe Capabilities of CMS in Heavy Ion Collisions at the LHC

Abstract

Heavy ion collisions at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) will produce strongly interacting matter at unprecedented energy densities. At LHC collision energies, new hard probes of the dense initial collision system will become readily available. We present an overview of the capabilities of the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) detector to use these probes for a detailed study of QCD phenomenology at the highest energy densities.