Large-pT inclusive π0 production in heavy-ion collisions at RHIC and LHC Original Research Article

We present results for the large-pT inclusive π0 production in p–p and A–A collisions at RHIC and LHC energies. We include the full next-to-leading order radiative corrections, O(αs3), and nuclear effects such as parton energy loss and nuclear shadowing. We find the next-to-leading order corrections and the parton energy loss effect to be large and pT-dependent, while the nuclear shadowing effects are small (<10%). We calculate the ratio of prompt photons to neutral pions produced in heavy-ion collisions and show that at RHIC energies this ratio increases with pT approaching one at pT∼8 GeV, due to the large suppression of π0 production. We show that at the LHC, this ratio has a steep pT-dependence and approaches 25% effect at pT∼40 GeV. We discuss theoretical uncertainties inherent in our calculation, such as choice of the renormalization, factorization and fragmentation scales and the K-factors which signify the size of higher-order corrections.