The Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) has opened a new era in experimental nuclear physics. Among the most important discoveries of this new era are the jet quenching phenomenon, the energy... Show moreThe Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) has opened a new era in experimental nuclear physics. Among the most important discoveries of this new era are the jet quenching phenomenon, the energy loss suffered by a hard scattered parton traversing the medium, and the collective flow, approaching the limit of ideal hydrodynamics. RHIC experiments have introduced a number of novel correlation methods for studies of jets and jet-medium interactions in the high multiplicity environment of ultra-relativistic heavy ion collisions. The di- and multi-hadron correlation techniques have since been quintessential to the understanding of the properties of the created medium in many complementary ways. In this work selected recent results are presented for the RHIC’s top energy collisions at 200 GeV. Di-hadron correlation measurements from Au–Au collisions, illuminating the properties of the hot nuclear medium, are confronted with the recent findings from d–Au data at the same energy. Understanding of initial state properties and collision evolution is tested by unexpected similarities in the di-hadron correlation measurements between the two systems. Show less
