JEWEL on a (2+1)D background with applications to small systems and substructure

High-$p_T$ jets are an important tool for characterizing the quark-gluon plasma (QGP) created in heavy-ion collisions. However, a precise understanding of the jet-medium interaction is still lacking, and the development of more sophisticated observables is needed. This work presents a tool that allows for the exploration of alternative high-$p_T$ observables in a variety of collision systems. The tool builds on the publicly available JEWEL Monte Carlo code, and allows for the evolution of a jet on any given (2+1)-dimensional background. Proof-of-concept observables are also presented, studied using the latest version of JEWEL, JEWEL-2.4.0. The simplicity of the separation of the physics of the jet from the physics of the medium (while still allowing for the usual JEWEL medium-response), allows for easy interpretation without the need for complex parameterization. Results are produced using the RIVET toolkit, which allows for transparent preservation and development of analyses that are compatible with experimental methods. The code and analysis used to produce the plots presented here are made publicly available on a Github repository, with up-to-date usage instructions. This tool is expected to be useful to the broad jet-physics community for the study of precision observables for jets.