Characterization of nuclear breakup as a function of hard-scattering kinematics using dijets measured by ATLAS in p+Pb collisions

This Letter analyzes the sensitivity of event geometry estimators to the initial-state kinematics of hard scattering in proton–lead collisions. This analysis uses dijets as a proxy for the parton–parton scattering configuration, correlating it with event geometry estimators, namely the energy deposited in the Zero-Degree Calorimeter and the transverse energy recorded in the Forward Calorimeter in the Pb-going direction. The analysis uses data recorded by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider with a nucleon–nucleon center-of-mass energy of 8.16 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 56 nb⁻¹. The jets are measured within the pseudorapidity interval −2.8 ' η ' 4.5, where positive η values correspond to the direction of the proton beam. Results are presented as a function of the Bjorken- x of the parton originating from the proton, x_p . Both event geometry estimators are found to be dependent on x_p , with the energy deposited in the Zero-Degree Calorimeter about six times less sensitive to x_p compared with the transverse energy deposited in the Forward Calorimeter.