# Novel scenario for production of heavy flavored mesons in heavy ion collisions

## TL;DR

This paper proposes a new scenario explaining the suppression of heavy flavored mesons in heavy ion collisions, emphasizing the role of medium-induced delays and breakup of hadrons, aligning well with experimental data.

## Contribution

It introduces a novel scenario for heavy meson production in dense media, highlighting the impact of prompt breakup and delayed formation on suppression patterns.

## Key findings

- The model agrees with experimental suppression data.
- Heavy quark fragmentation is delayed in dense media.
- Prompt breakup significantly reduces heavy meson yields.

## Abstract

The observed strong suppression of heavy flavored hadrons produced with high $p_T$, is caused by final state interactions with the created dense medium. Vacuum radiation of high-pT heavy quarks ceases at a short time scale, as is confirmed by pQCD calculations and by LEP measurements of the fragmentation functions of heavy quarks. Production of a heavy flavored hadrons in a dense medium is considerably delayed due to prompt breakup of the hadrons by the medium. This causes a strong suppression of the heavy quark yield because of the specific shape of the fragmentation function. The parameter-free description is in a good accord with available data.