Jet conversions in a quark-gluon plasma

Abstract

Quark and gluon jets traversing through a quark-gluon plasma not only lose their energies but also can undergo flavor conversions. The conversion rates via the elastic $q(\bar q)g\to gq(\bar q)$ and the inelastic $q\bar q\leftrightarrow gg$ scatterings are evaluated in the lowest order in QCD. Including both jet energy loss and conversions in the expanding quark-gluon plasma produced in relativistic heavy ion collisions, we have found a net conversion of quark to gluon jets. This reduces the difference between the nuclear modification factors for quark and gluon jets in central heavy ion collisions and thus enhances the $p/\pi^+$ and ${\bar p}/\pi^-$ ratios at high transverse momentum. However, a much larger net quark to gluon jet conversion rate than the one given by the lowest-order QCD is needed to account for the observed similar ratios in central Au+Au and p+p collisions at same energy. Implications of our results are discussed.