Heavy-flavor suppression and azimuthal anisotropy in Pb-Pb collisions at sqrt(s_{NN}) = 2.76 TeV with the ALICE detector

TL;DR

This paper reports on heavy-flavor hadron production in Pb-Pb collisions at 2.76 TeV, showing significant suppression at high transverse momentum and non-zero azimuthal anisotropy in non-central collisions, indicating strong medium effects.

Contribution

It provides detailed measurements of heavy-flavor suppression and azimuthal anisotropy in Pb-Pb collisions at LHC energies, expanding understanding of quark-gluon plasma properties.

Findings

Heavy-flavor hadrons are suppressed by a factor of 3-5 at pT ~ 8-10 GeV/c in central collisions.

Non-zero v2 observed for heavy-flavor hadrons at intermediate pT (~3 GeV/c) in non-central collisions.

Results suggest strong interaction of heavy quarks with the quark-gluon plasma.

Abstract

Heavy-flavor hadron production studies in Pb-Pb collisions at sqrt(s_{NN}) = 2.76 TeV with the 2010 and 2011 data samples are presented. The measurements are performed with the ALICE detector in various decay channels and in a wide kinematic range. Heavy-flavor hadrons exhibit a suppression in the most central Pb-Pb collisions that amounts to a factor 3-5 for pT ~ 8-10 GeV/c. The second harmonic of the azimuthal distribution Fourier decomposition, v2, is non-zero for non-central collisions at intermediate pT (~3 GeV/c).