Tomography of cold and hot QCD matter : tools and diagnosis

The probability distribution D(epsilon) in the energy loss incurred by incoming and outgoing hard quarks in a QCD medium is computed numerically from the BDMPS gluon spectrum. It is shown to follow an empirical log-normal behavior which allows us to give the quenching weight a simple analytic parameterization. The dependence of our results under the infrared and ultraviolet sensitivity of the gluon spectrum is investigated as well. Finally, as an illustration, we discuss and compare estimates for the quenching of hadron spectra in nuclear matter and in a quark-gluon plasma to HERA and RHIC preliminary data.