Heavy quarks in nucleus-nucleus collisions: from RHIC to LHC

TL;DR

This paper investigates how heavy quarks produced in nucleus-nucleus collisions interact with the quark-gluon plasma, affecting their final spectra and flow, using pQCD and Langevin dynamics.

Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive model combining NLO pQCD initial production, hydrodynamic medium evolution, and Langevin-based quark propagation with microscopic transport coefficients.

Findings

Heavy-flavor R_AA and v_2 are successfully described.

The model reproduces key features of heavy-flavor suppression and flow.

Results highlight the importance of medium effects on heavy-quark dynamics.

Abstract

We present a study of the heavy-flavor dynamics in nucleus-nucleus collisions. The initial (hard) production of c and b quarks is taken from NLO pQCD predictions. The presence of a hot medium (a Quark Gluon Plasma described by hydrodynamics) affects the final spectra of open-charm (beauty) hadrons and their decay electrons with respect to what found in pp collisions. The propagation of c and b quarks in the plasma is based on a picture of multiple uncorrelated random collisions, described by a relativistic Langevin equation. A microscopic evaluation of the transport coefficients is provided within a pQCD approach (with proper resummation of medium effects). Results for the final spectra of heavy-flavor hadrons and decay-electrons are given, with particular emphasis on R_AA and v_2.