Jet quenching and Cronin enhancement in A+A at s=20 versus 200 AGeV

The sensitivity of semi-hard (p⊥<10 GeV) hadron production to parton energy loss in high energy nuclear collisions is studied via the HIJING1.35 model. We test the model on recent WA98 data on 160 AGeV Pb+Pb→π0 up to 4 GeV/c and while these data are reproduced, the results depends sensitively on the model of the Cronin effect. At (RHIC) collider energies (s>200 AGeV), on the other hand, semi-hard hadron production becomes insensitive to the above model and is thus expected to be a cleaner probe of jet quenching signature associated with non-Abelian radiative energy loss.