Medium-induced jet absorption in relativistic heavy-ion collisions

The dense medium created in Au + Au collisions at the Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collider significantly suppresses particle production from hard-scattering processes and their characteristic back-to-back angular correlation. We present a simple model of jet absorption in dense matter that incorporates a realistic nuclear geometry. Our calculations are performed at the jet level and assume independent jet fragmentation in the vacuum. This model describes quantitatively the centrality dependence of the observed suppression of the high p_T hadron yield and of the back-to-back angular correlations. The azimuthal anisotropy of high p_T particle production cannot be accounted for using a realistic nuclear geometry.