Investigation of charm and beauty production via semileptonic decays of heavy-flavour hadrons in pp at 7 TeV and Pb--Pb at 2.76 TeV with ALICE

TL;DR

This paper measures electron spectra from heavy-flavour hadron decays in proton-proton and lead-lead collisions at LHC energies to study heavy-quark production and energy loss in quark-gluon plasma.

Contribution

It provides new measurements of heavy-flavour electron production cross sections and nuclear modification factors at different collision energies and systems.

Findings

Measured heavy-flavour electron cross sections in pp at 7 TeV.

Determined nuclear modification factor in Pb--Pb collisions.

Identified electrons from beauty decays via vertex displacement.

Abstract

Electron spectra measured with ALICE at mid-rapidity are used to study the production of hadrons carrying a charm or a beauty quark. The production cross section of electrons from heavy-flavour hadron decays is measured in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}$=7 TeV. Electrons from the beauty decays are identified via the displacement from the interaction vertex. From the electron spectra measured in Pb--Pb collisions, we determine the nuclear modification factor, which is sensitive to the heavy-quark energy loss in a hot strongly interacting medium.