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

Wilke van der Schee1,2,3, Isobel Kolbé4,5,6, Govert Nijs1, Kumail Ruhani7, Ishtiaq Ahmed8, and Shahin Iqbal8

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Phys. Rev. Lett. 137, 132302 – Published 22 September, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/dzzp-3vhf

Abstract

In July 2025 the Large Hadron Collider collided O16O16 and Ne20Ne20 isotopes in a quest to understand the physics of ultrarelativistic light ion collisions. One of the key motivations for this run was to discover partonic energy loss in systems with a small quark-gluon plasma. In this Letter we combine a Baier-Dokshitzer-Mueller-Peigné-Schiff and Zakharov based model, a weighted path based energy loss prescription, and jewel together with two realistic geometries of the O16 and Ne20 isotopes. The different sizes of the ions affect the energy loss in characteristically different ways depending on the model.

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Outline

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Phys. Rev. Lett. 137, 132302– Published 22 September, 2026
  • Received 24 September 2025
  • Revised 13 July 2026
  • Accepted 18 August 2026
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Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI. Open access publication funded by CERN.

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