Distributions of Charged Hadrons Associated with High Transverse Momentum Particles in p p and Au + Au Collisions at s N N = 200 GeV

Charged hadrons in [EQUATION: SEE TEXT] associated with particles of [EQUATION: SEE TEXT] are reconstructed in pp and Au+Au collisions at sqrt[sNN]=200 GeV. The associated multiplicity and p magnitude sum are found to increase from pp to central Au+Au collisions. The associated p distributions, while similar in shape on the nearside, are significantly softened on the awayside in central Au+Au relative to pp and not much harder than that of inclusive hadrons. The results, consistent with jet quenching, suggest that the awayside fragments approach equilibration with the medium traversed.