Modified Coherence and the Transverse Extent of Jets

Abstract

We present a study of the transverse size of parton showers and their diminishing interaction with the medium in the high virtuality stage of jet evolution. We consider the process of a hard quark produced in deep inelastic scattering off a large nucleus. Single gluon radiation from this quark, in the absence of scattering, is re-derived using wave-packets. This allows for a derivation of the quantum uncertainty size of the hard quark, at the point of splitting. This uncertainty size is then incorporated within a Monte-Carlo shower routine yielding transverse shower sizes noticeably larger than the classical antenna size of the shower. No clear relation is found between the full uncertainty size of the shower and the virtuality of the originating parton. The single gluon emission from the hard quark is then re-analysed for the case of single rescattering off the remainder of the nucleus. A relation is derived between the jet transport coefficient $\hat{q}$ and the gluon Transverse Momentum Dependent Parton Distribution Function (gTMDPDF). Solving this relation, for a simple case, clearly demonstrates the weakening of $\hat{q}$ with the virtuality of the hard splitting parton.