  High momentum jets and hadrons can be used as probes for the quark gluon
plasma (QGP) formed in nuclear collisions at high energies. We investigate the
influence of fluctuations in the fireball on jet quenching observables by
comparing propagation of light quarks and gluons through averaged, smooth QGP
fireballs with event-by-event jet quenching using realistic inhomogeneous
fireballs. We find that the transverse momentum and impact parameter dependence
of the nuclear modification factor R_AA can be fit well in an event-by-event
quenching scenario within experimental errors. However the transport
coefficient qhat extracted from fits to the measured nuclear modification
factor R_AA in averaged fireballs underestimates the value from event-by-event
calculations by up to 50%. On the other hand, after adjusting qhat to fit R_AA
in the event-by-event analysis we find residual deviations in the azimuthal
asymmetry v_2 and in two-particle correlations, that provide a possible faint
signature for a spatial tomography of the fireball.
