Fragmentation Function of Photons in JetScape/X-Scape Simulations

For heavy-ion collisions, there have been no measurements of fragmentation photons, and experimental observables of these photons could increase our understanding of jet energy loss in the Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP). This study presents a detailed analysis of fragmentation photons using the JETSCAPE/X-SCAPE framework, with a focus on the momentum fraction (z=p^γ_T/p^jet_T) and angular separation (ΔR) relative to jets. It is my aim to investigate the energy loss of jets through characterizing the fragmentation photon spectrum in JETSCAPE/X-SCAPE simulations of heavy-ion collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 200 GeV (RHIC energy). Photons within the jet cone radius of 0.4 will be considered to be fragmentation photons, as prompt photons are excluded using cuts on the constituents of the jet. From the simulation analysis results, it is revealed that as the jet pT range increases, there are more photons with higher momentum fraction than charged pions, meaning that the photons take away a larger amount of the jet momentum as the momentum increases. These observables are expected to aid in extracting the modified fragmentation function at RHIC with a focus on potential measurement with sPHENIX data.