Open charm production in central Pb+Pb collisions at the CERN SPS: statistical model estimates

TL;DR

This paper uses a statistical model to estimate charm particle production in central Pb+Pb collisions at CERN SPS energies, predicting a rapid increase with energy but exceeding experimental limits at 17.3 GeV, indicating the need for model revision.

Contribution

It applies the statistical model of the early stage to estimate charm production, highlighting discrepancies with experimental data at SPS energies.

Findings

Model predicts rapid increase of charm multiplicity with energy.

Predicted charm yield at 17.3 GeV exceeds experimental upper limits.

Model assumptions may need revision to match data.

Abstract

Charm particle production in nucleus-nucleus collisions at the CERN SPS energies is considered within a statistical approach. Namely, the Statistical Model of the Early Stage is used to calculate mean multiplicity of charm particles in central Pb+Pb collisions. A small number of produced charm particles necessitates the use of the exact charm conservation law. The model predicts a rapid increase of mean charm multiplicity as a function of collision energy. The mean multiplicity calculated for central Pb+Pb collisions at the center of mass energy per nucleon pair $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=17.3$ GeV exceeds significantly the experimental upper limit. Thus, in order to describe open charm production model parameters and/or assumptions should be revised.