Comparison of radiative energy loss models in a hot QCD medium

The suppression of high image hadron production in heavy ion collisions is thought to be due to energy loss by gluon radiation off hard partons in a QCD medium. Existing models of QCD radiative energy loss in a color-charged medium give estimates of the coupling strength of the parton to the medium which differ by a factor of 5. We will present a side-by-side comparison of two different formalisms to calculate the energy loss of light quarks and gluons: the multiple soft scattering approximation (ASW-MS) and the opacity expansion formalism (ASW-SH and WHDG-rad). A common time-temperature profile is used to characterize the medium. The results are compared to the single hadron suppression image at RHIC energies. In addition, the influcence of homogeneous and non-homogeneous distribution of scattering centers is discussed. We find that using an equivalent brick overestimates the energy loss for long parton trajectories.