Correlated D-meson decays competing against thermal QGP dilepton radiation

TL;DR

This paper evaluates the background of dileptons from correlated D-meson decays in heavy-ion collisions to better isolate thermal QGP radiation signals, using a Langevin simulation and a hybrid model at RHIC energies.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed simulation of D-meson decay backgrounds with charm-medium interactions to improve thermal dilepton signal extraction in heavy-ion collisions.

Findings

The correlated D-meson decay background is quantified at RHIC energies.

Different interaction scenarios impact the dilepton yield from D-meson decays.

Results help estimate the thermal QGP dilepton radiation by accounting for backgrounds.

Abstract

The QGP that might be created in ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions is expected to radiate thermal dilepton radiation. However, this thermal dilepton radiation interferes with dileptons originating from hadron decays. In the invariant mass region between the $\phi$ and $J/\Psi$ peak ($1\,$GeV$\lesssim M_{\ell^+ \ell^-} \lesssim 3 \,$GeV) the most substantial background of hadron decays originates from correlated D$\bar{\mathrm{D}}$-meson decays. We evaluate this background using a Langevin simulation for charm quarks. As background medium we utilize the well-tested UrQMD-hybrid model. The required drag and diffusion coefficients are taken from a resonance approach. The decoupling of the charm quarks from the hot medium is performed at a temperature of $130\,$MeV and as hadronization mechanism a coalescence approach is chosen. This model for charm quark interactions with the medium has already been successfully applied to the study of the medium modification and the elliptic flow at FAIR, RHIC and LHC energies. In this proceeding we present our results for the dilepton radiation from correlated D$\bar{\mathrm{D}}$ decays at RHIC energy in comparison to PHENIX measurements in the invariant mass range between 1 and 3 GeV using different interaction scenarios. These results can be utilized to estimate the thermal QGP radiation.