Comparison of jet quenching formalisms for a quark-gluon plasma “brick”

Abstract

We review the currently available formalisms for radiative energy loss of a high-momentum parton in a dense strongly interacting medium. The underlying theoretical framework of the four commonly used formalisms is discussed and the differences and commonalities between the formalisms are highlighted. A quantitative comparison of the single-gluon emission spectra as well as the energy-loss distributions is given for a model system consisting of a uniform medium with a fixed length of L = 2 fm and L = 5 fm (the “Brick”). Sizable quantitative differences are found. The largest differences can be attributed to specific approximations that are made in the calculation of the radiation spectrum.