This report reviews the study of open heavy-flavour and quarkonium production in high-energy hadronic collisions, as tools to investigate fundamental aspects of Quantum Chromodynamics, from the proton and nucleus structure at high energy to deconfinement and the properties of the Quark-Gluon Plasma. Emphasis is given to the lessons learnt from LHC Run 1 results, which are reviewed in a global picture with the results from SPS and RHIC at lower energies, as well as to the questions to be addressed in the future. The report covers heavy flavour and quarkonium production in proton-proton, proton-nucleus and nucleus-nucleus collisions. This includes discussion of the effects of hot and cold strongly interacting matter, quarkonium photoproduction in nucleus-nucleus collisions and perspectives on the study of heavy flavour and quarkonium with upgrades of existing experiments and new experiments. The report results from the activity of the SaporeGravis network of the I3 Hadron Physics programme of the European Union 7[Formula: see text] Framework Programme.

Abstract By globally analyzing nuclear Drell-Yan data including all incident energies, the nuclear effects of nuclear parton distribution functions (nPDFs) and initial-state parton energy loss are investigated. Based on the Landau-Pomeranchuk-Migdal (LPM) regime, the calculations are carried out by means of analytic parametrizations of quenching weights derived from the Baier-Dokshitzer-Mueller-Peign -Schiff (BDMPS) formalism and using the new EPPS16 nPDFs. It is found that the results are in good agreement with the data and the role of the energy loss effect in the suppression of Drell-Yan ratios is prominent, especially for low-mass Drell-Yan measurements. The nuclear effects of nPDFs become more obvious with increasing nuclear mass number A , the same as the energy loss effect. By a global fit, the transport coefficient extracted is GeV 2 /fm. In addition, to avoid diminishing the QCD NLO correction to the data form of Drell-Yan ratios, separate calculations of the Compton differential cross section ratios at 120 GeV are performed, which provides a feasible way to better distinguish the gluon energy loss in Compton scattering. It is found that the role of the initial-state gluon energy loss in the suppression of Compton scattering ratios is not very important and disappears with the increase of .

Jet quenching at intermediate RHIC energies The final state energy loss of fast partons penetrating a longitudinally expanding quark-gluon plasma of effective gluon rapidity density $dN^{g}/dy=650-800$ is evaluated and incorporated together with the multiple initial state Cronin scattering in the lowest order perturbative QCD hadron production formalism. Predictions for the neutral pion attenuation in central $Au+Au$ collisions at the intermediate RHIC energy of $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=62$ GeV relative to the binary collision scaled $p+p$ result are given. The quenching is found to be a factor of 2-3 with a moderate transverse momentum dependence and the attenuation of the away-side di-hadron correlation function is estimated to be 3-5 fold. Published as: Phys.Lett.B606:303-312,2005 DOI: 10.1016/j.physletb.2004.12.013 arXiv categories: nucl-th hep-ph

High-p_T pion and kaon production in relativistic nuclear collisions High-p_T pion and kaon production is studied in relativistic proton-proton, proton-nucleus, and nucleus-nucleus collisions in a wide energy range. Cross sections are calculated based on perturbative QCD, augmented by a phenomenological transverse momentum distribution of partons (``intrinsic k_T''). An energy dependent width of the transverse momentum distribution is extracted from pion and charged hadron production data in proton-proton/proton-antiproton collisions. Effects of multiscattering and shadowing in the strongly interacting medium are taken into account. Enhancement of the transverse momentum width is introduced and parameterized to explain the Cronin effect. In collisions between heavy nuclei, the model over-predicts central pion production cross sections (more significantly at higher energies), hinting at the presence of jet quenching. Predictions are made for proton-nucleus and nucleus-nucleus collisions at RHIC energies. Published as: Phys.Rev.C65:034903,2002 DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevC.65.034903 arXiv categories: hep-ph nucl-ex nucl-th

This review examines data from hadron-nucleus collisions, primarily focusing on hard processes like Drell-Yan, heavy flavor, and quarkonium production. It highlights observed modifications of particle yields as functions of momentum and rapidity, aiming to clarify the underlying QCD effects on cold nuclear matter. It outlines strategies for future experiments, including the Electron-Ion Collider, to distinguish between these effects. Key questions address the universality of suppression mechanisms and the role of nonperturbative physics, providing a road map for upcoming measurements of hadrons on nuclei.

This paper is a write-up of the ideas that were presented, developed and discussed at the fourth International Workshop on QCD Challenges from pp to AA, which took place in February 2023 in Padua, Italy. The goal of the workshop was to focus on some of the open questions in the field of high-energy heavy-ion physics and to stimulate the formulation of concrete suggestions for making progresses on both the experimental and theoretical sides. The paper gives a brief introduction to each topic and then summarizes the primary results.

We present a detailed numerical investigation of semi-inclusive forward di-hadron production in proton–nucleus collisions employing the Color Glass Condensate effective theory. We focus on the regime where di-hadrons are produced nearly back-to-back in the transverse plane, thereby justifying a transverse-momentum-dependent factorization approach in terms of small-x gluon distributions. Our computation integrates several key elements: i) non-linear rapidity evolution via the Balitsky–Kovchegov equation with running coupling, ii) both perturbative and non-perturbative Sudakov resummation, and iii) a phenomenologically constrained model for the initial conditions for small-x gluon distributions. We compare this phenomenological framework to experimental data from the STAR Collaboration on azimuthal correlations in forward di-pion production in both proton–proton and proton–gold collisions. We analyze the systematic theoretical uncertainties associated with the saturation scales of nuclei at the initial scale for rapidity evolution and with those associated with the hadronization process. Finally, we make predictions for the kinematics anticipated to be covered by the ALICE Forward Calorimeter (FoCal) upgrade at the Large Hadron Collider.

Abstract We revisit the graphic table of QCD signatures in our 1996 Annual Reviews article “The Search for the Quark–Gluon Plasma” and assess the progress that has been made since its publication towards providing quantitative evidence for the formation of a quark–gluon plasma in relativistic heavy-ion collisions and its characteristic properties.