System size and energy dependence of jet-induced hadron pair correlation shapes in Cu+Cu and Au+Au collisions at square root sNN=200 and 62.4 GeV

Phys Rev Lett. 2007 Jun 8;98(23):232302. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.98.232302. Epub 2007 Jun 4.

Abstract

We present azimuthal angle correlations of intermediate transverse momentum (1-4 GeV/c) hadrons from dijets in Cu+Cu and Au+Au collisions at square root sNN=62.4 and 200 GeV. The away-side dijet induced azimuthal correlation is broadened, non-Gaussian, and peaked away from Delta phi=pi in central and semicentral collisions in all the systems. The broadening and peak location are found to depend upon the number of participants in the collision, but not on the collision energy or beam nuclei. These results are consistent with sound or shock wave models, but pose challenges to Cherenkov gluon radiation models.