Unveiling the Structure of the Perfect Superfluid Using Correlation Functions
The sequential clustering of particles into jets provides an algorithmic link between final-state hadrons and the partons from which they originated. Jet substructure techniques allow us to trace the radiation history of jets, offering a powerful framework to probe Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) across different energy scales. Projected \textit{N}-point Energy Correlators (ENCs) are a novel class of observables that explore the energy flow within hadronic jets.This thesis presents the first measurements of the two-point (EEC) and projected three-point correlators (E3C) as well as their ratio (E3C/EEC) at $\sqrt{s} = 13$ TeV using Run 2 data from the ALICE experiment. The ENCs demonstrate characteristic scaling behavior, while their ratios reveal sensitivity to the running of the strong coupling constant, $\alpha_s$. Corresponding first measurements of E3C and E3C/EEC at $\sqrt{s} = 5.02$ TeV are also presented, showing consistent features across center of mass energies.At extreme temperatures and densities, strongly interacting matter undergoes a phase transition into a deconfined state known as the Quark Gluon Plasma (QGP), which is created in heavy-ion collisions at the LHC. This thesis presents both the first application of and the techniques to measure higher-point Energy Correlators in heavy-ion collisions, thereby expanding the set of substructure tools available to probe the microscopic properties of the QGP.
Institutions
- Yale University (US)
Publication Details
- Published
- 2025-06-17
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.17181/6te4v-mkm82
- Primary Topic
- High-Energy Particle Collisions Research
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00