Heavy Flavor Production and Energy Loss with Two-Particle Correlations at PHENIX

TL;DR

This paper investigates heavy quark energy loss in heavy ion collisions using electron-hadron and electron-muon correlations at PHENIX, providing insights into charm and bottom suppression and medium modification effects.

Contribution

It introduces new correlation techniques to study heavy flavor production and energy loss, including electron-muon pairs, in both p+p and Au+Au collisions.

Findings

Heavy quarks show suppression similar to light hadrons.

Electron-hadron correlations indicate medium modification effects.

Electron-muon pairs offer a new rapidity range for heavy flavor measurement.

Abstract

Heavy quarks are a valuable probe of the hot, dense medium created in a heavy ion collision, and are an important test of proposed mechanisms of energy loss. It was discovered that single non-photonic electrons are suppressed at a similar level to light hadrons, implying a comparable level of energy loss between light and heavy partons. Because theory has had a difficult time explaining the level of heavy quark energy loss, it is crucial to better understand charm and bottom suppression. Electron-hadron correlations have been used at PHENIX to study heavy flavor in both p+p and Au+Au collisions. In p+p the ratio of charm to bottom production has been measured using mass correlations through a partial reconstruction of the D meson. Electron-hadron angular correlations have also been used to study medium modification of heavy flavor, and we see hints of energy loss effects. A complementary study of correlated electron-muon pairs provides a clean measurement of heavy flavor production in a rapidity range not yet studied.