Measurement of the nuclear modification factor of electrons from heavy-flavour decays at mid-rapidity in Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}$ = 2.76 TeV with ALICE

TL;DR

This paper measures the suppression of electrons from heavy-flavour decays in lead-lead collisions at 2.76 TeV, revealing significant energy loss effects in the quark-gluon plasma.

Contribution

It provides the first measurement of the nuclear modification factor of electrons from heavy-flavour decays at LHC energies, highlighting heavy-flavour suppression in Pb-Pb collisions.

Findings

Electrons from heavy-flavour decays are suppressed by a factor of 1.5-4.

The excess of electrons beyond background indicates heavy-flavour energy loss.

Results support models of parton energy loss in quark-gluon plasma.

Abstract

We present results on inclusive electrons for 1.5 $ < p_{\rm T} < $ 6 GeV/$c$ in {Pb-Pb} collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}$ = 2.76 TeV measured with ALICE at the LHC and compare these to a cocktail of background electron sources. The excess of electrons beyond the cocktail at high momenta ({$p_{\rm T} >$ 3.5 GeV/$c$}) is attributed to electrons from heavy-flavour decays. The corresponding nuclear modification factor indicates heavy-flavour suppression by a factor of 1.5-4.