Heavy Flavor Dynamics in QGP and Hadron Gas

TL;DR

This paper models heavy flavor particle behavior in quark-gluon plasma and hadron gas, incorporating energy loss mechanisms and comparing results with experimental data, revealing insights into heavy quark interactions and energy loss processes.

Contribution

It introduces a modified Langevin framework for heavy quark evolution and explores heavy-flavor angular correlations to distinguish energy loss mechanisms.

Findings

Hadronic interactions further suppress D meson R_AA at high p_T.

Hadronic interactions enhance D meson v_2.

Model agrees well with RHIC and LHC experimental data.

Abstract

We study heavy flavor evolution in the quark-gluon plasma matter and the subsequent hadron gas created in ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions. The motion of heavy quarks inside the QGP is described using our modified Langevin framework that incorporates both collisional and radiative energy loss mechanisms; and the scatterings between heavy mesons and the hadron gas are simulated with the UrQMD model. We find that the hadronic interaction further suppresses the $D$ meson $R_\mathrm{AA}$ at high $p_\mathrm{T}$ and enhances its $v_2$. And our calculations provide good descriptions of experimental data from both RHIC and LHC. In addition, we explore the heavy-flavor-tagged angular correlation functions and find them to be a potential candidate for distinguishing different energy loss mechanisms of heavy quarks inside the QGP.