Speaker
Description
sPHENIX is the first newly constructed detector at a hadron collider in over a decade, featuring a compact design and a set of unique, purpose-built capabilities not previously available at RHIC. The sPHENIX heavy-flavor program at RHIC is designed to address fundamental questions about the strongly interacting Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP) using jets originating from heavy-quarks as precision probes to bridge the gap between experimental results and theoretical models of QCD matter. The study of heavy-flavor jets is complementary to heavy-flavor hadrons and provides a great opportunity for comparisons with light-flavor jets.
At its core, sPHENIX employs the Monolithic Active Pixel Sensor (MAPS)-based Vertex Detector (MVTX), the Intermediate Silicon Tracker (INTT), a Time Projection Chamber (TPC), and a Micromegas based Time Projection Chamber Outer Track (TPOT), which together provide the high-precision vertexing and tracking essential for reconstructing heavy-flavor hadrons within the pseudorapidity range |$\eta$| < 1.1. Jet reconstruction at sPHENIX will leverage this precise tracking in combination with full azimuthal coverage from the Electromagnetic Calorimeter (EMCal) and the first Hadronic Calorimeter (HCal) at midrapidity at RHIC, enabling full reconstruction of jets, including both charged and neutral components.
This talk presents the strategies and methods developed for identifying jets tagged with heavy-flavor hadrons at sPHENIX. We will also report on the plans for heavy-flavor jet substructure measurements and the current status of heavy-flavor hadron and jet reconstruction based on the dataset collected during the 2024 run.