Jet physics in ALICE

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The ALICE experiment is designed for the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN, Geneva, which began operations in late 2007. It focuses on nucleus-nucleus collisions at ultra-relativistic energies to explore the properties of strongly interacting matter under high density and temperature conditions. The LHC provides a significant enhancement over previous studies, particularly in producing energetic probes like light quarks and gluons. These probes can be identified through their fragmentation into high-energy jets, enabling full reconstruction of jet properties even in complex heavy-ion environments. A key area of research is understanding how high-energy jet production and fragmentation are influenced by the dense medium formed during collisions. Typically, energy loss occurs due to medium-induced gluon radiation, and it is suggested that softer hadronization products may be found within the jet emission cone, altering jet fragmentation characteristics. This includes changes in longitudinal and transverse momentum distributions related to the initial parton direction, leading to phenomena such as jet quenching and transverse heating. This thesis examines the ALICE detectors' capabilities for measuring jets and quantifies the rates and quality of jet reconstruction in both proton-proton and lead-lead collisions, specifically investigating the detectability of jet fragmentation modifications in high-particle-multiplicity environ