Azimuthal anisotropy of charged jet production in √s_NN = 2.76 TeV Pb–Pb collisions

We present measurements of the azimuthal dependence of charged jet production in central and semi-central √s_NN = 2.76 TeV Pb–Pb collisions with respect to the second harmonic event plane, quantified as v₂^{ch jet}. Jet finding is performed employing the anti-k_T algorithm with a resolution parameter R = 0.2 using charged tracks from the ALICE tracking system. The contribution of the azimuthal anisotropy of the underlying event is taken into account event-by-event. The remaining (statistical) region-to-region fluctuations are removed on an ensemble basis by unfolding the jet spectra for different event plane orientations independently. Significant non-zero v₂^{ch jet} is observed in semi-central collisions (30–50% centrality) for 20 < p_T^{ch jet} < 90 GeV/c. The azimuthal dependence of the charged jet production is similar to the dependence observed for jets comprising both charged and neutral fragments, and compatible with measurements of the v₂ of single charged particles at high p_T. Good agreement between the data and predictions from JEWEL, an event generator simulating parton shower evolution in the presence of a dense QCD medium, is found in semi-central collisions.