High p_T Phenomena in Heavy Ion Collisions at s¹/2=20 and 200 AGeV

Jet quenching as observed via high p_T hadron production is studied in the HIJING1.35 model. We test the model on recent WA98 data on 160 AGeV Pb+Pb -> pi0 up to 4 GeV/c. The results depend sensitively on the model of the Cronin effect. At (RHIC) collider energies (s^1/2 > 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.