Light-front wavefunction dependence of quark recombination

We present an extension of the recombination formalism to analyze the effects of variation of the hadron wavefunctions. The hadron spectra are sensitive to the shape of the wavefunctions. However, when we fit the wavefunction parameters to the physical observables, such as the average charge radius, the final spectra are very similar to one another. We discuss our numerical results in comparison with the published PHENIX and STAR data for the BNL Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. In the hadron spectra, the recombination of thermal partons dominates at intermediate transverse momentum (P_T=2-5 GeV), and the fragmentation dominates at high P_T(>5 GeV). The yield ratios and the nuclear modification factors for various hadron species are also estimated and compared with the experimental data. We present a new prediction for p¯/p and K^-/K⁺ ratios, including the jet quenching effects on the fragmentation mechanism.