Abstract:
Experiments on collisions of light nuclei at $\sqrt{s}=5.36$ TeV have recently begun at the LHC. In this regard we make predictions for nuclear modification factor $R_{AA}$ in $5.36$ TeV C + C, O + O, and Ne + Ne collisions for scenarios with and without quark-gluon plasma formation in $pp$ collisions. We find a sizeable difference in $R_{AA}$ for these two scenarios, which grows with decreasing atomic number. This says that data on $R_{AA}$ for light nuclei could potentially give information on the presence of jet quenching in $pp$ collisions.
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