Researchers have employed the updated CoLBT-hydro model to study energy-energy correlators (EECs) within particle jets in heavy-ion collisions. EECs are a sensitive tool for analyzing jet modification as jets traverse the quark-gluon plasma (QGP), a state of matter that briefly existed after the Big Bang. Interpreting these measurements in heavy-ion collisions is complex, requiring an understanding of jet evolution across multiple dynamic scales and precise experimental background subtraction.

The CoLBT-hydro framework incorporates a medium energy scale, Q_M = 2.0 GeV, to distinguish between jet evolution in vacuum and within the QGP. This approximation allows for a more coherent treatment of jet evolution. By applying a theoretical background subtraction within the model, the resulting simulations reproduce recent EEC measurements in jets performed by the CMS experiment. Decomposing the different contributions in the model highlights the significant impact of medium modification on the EEC observable.

To validate experimental procedures, the researchers also implemented the CMS mixed-event background subtraction method directly into the simulation, obtaining results consistent with those from theoretical subtraction. Furthermore, the dependence of medium modification on path length within the QGP was investigated, observing differences in EECs for leading and subleading jets, classified by their transverse momentum (p_T). Finally, the dependence of the leading jet's EEC on the rapidity separation of di-jets was explored, which could be a signature of the jet-induced diffusion wake.