Evidence from d + Au measurements for final-state suppression of high-p_T hadrons in Au + Au collisions at RHIC

We report measurements of single-particle inclusive spectra and two-particle azimuthal distributions of charged hadrons at high transverse momentum (high p_T) in minimum bias and central d + Au collisions at √S_NN = 200 GeV. The inclusive yield is enhanced in d + Au collisions relative to binary-scaled p + p collisions, while the two-particle azimuthal distributions are very similar to those observed in p + p collisions. These results demonstrate that the strong suppression of the inclusive yield and back-to-back correlations at high p_T previously observed in central Au + Au collisions are due to final-state interactions with the dense medium generated in such collisions.