Speaker: Anthony Hodges

Host: Marzia Rosati

Title: A Look Inside Jets: High Energy Probes of QCD and The Quark Gluon Plasma

Abstract: Jets, collimated sprays of hadrons produced when quarks or gluons undergo a hard scattering, provide a rare opportunity to study partonic dynamics. Because they approximately preserve the kinematics of the initiating parton, jets have become essential tools for studying the strong interaction and Quantum Chromodynamics. In this colloquium, I will discuss how measurements of jets and their internal substructure deepen our understanding of QCD, and how these same techniques allow us to probe the properties of the quark-gluon plasma (QGP) created in relativistic heavy-ion collisions at RHIC and the LHC. By examining how energetic partons lose energy and are modified as they traverse this hot, dense medium, we can use jets as precision tomographic probes of QGP dynamics. I will highlight recent results and ongoing work toward a more complete picture of jet-medium interactions from both the ATLAS and sPHENIX experiments. Additionally, I will discuss future opportunities for novel jet measurements at the upcoming Electron-Ion Collider and its flagship experiment, the ePIC detector. 

Bio: Anthony Hodges is a postdoctoral researcher and National Science Foundation Fellow working with the University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign on the sPHENIX experiment at RHIC and on the ATLAS experiment at the LHC. He received his Ph.D. in physics from Georgia State University, where his dissertation focused on using two-particle correlations to study jet modification in heavy-ion collisions. At sPHENIX, he has served as convener for the Calorimeter Calibrations working group and as an on-call expert during detector operations. His current research centers on using jets and jet substructure to study partonic energy loss and the properties of the quark–gluon plasma.