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arXiv · 2509.04299

Three Predictions for Partonic Energy Loss from Light to Heavy Ion Collisions

Abstract

In July 2025 the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) collided $^{16}$O$^{16}$O and $^{20}$Ne$^{20}$Ne isotopes in a quest to understand the physics of ultrarelativistic light ion collisions. One of the key motivations for this run is to discover partonic energy loss in systems with a small quark-gluon plasma (QGP). In this letter we combine a BDMPS-Z based model, a weighted path based energy loss prescription, and JEWEL together with two realistic geometries of the $^{16}$O and $^{20}$Ne isotopes. The different sizes of the ions affect the energy loss in characteristically different ways depending on the model.

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Wilke van der Schee, Isobel Kolbé, Govert Nijs, Kumail Ruhani, Ishtiaq Ahmed, Shahin Iqbal. 2026-09-03. Three Predictions for Partonic Energy Loss from Light to Heavy Ion Collisions. https://doi.org/10.1103/dzzp-3vhf

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