Measurement of non-strange D-meson production and azimuthal anisotropy in Pb-Pb collisions with ALICE at the LHC

TL;DR

This paper reports on measurements of non-strange D-meson production and azimuthal anisotropy in Pb-Pb collisions at the LHC, providing insights into heavy quark energy loss and thermalization in the quark-gluon plasma.

Contribution

It presents new measurements of D-meson production, nuclear modification factor, and elliptic flow using Event-Shape Engineering at 5.02 TeV, advancing understanding of heavy quark-medium interactions.

Findings

D-meson nuclear modification factor indicates significant in-medium energy loss.

Elliptic flow measurements suggest heavy quark participation in collective expansion.

Event-Shape Engineering reveals coupling between charm quarks and the medium's light quarks.

Abstract

Heavy quarks are effective probes of the properties of the QGP created in ultra-relativistic heavy-ion collisions. The ALICE Collaboration measured the non-strange D-meson production in Pb--Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN\,}}=5.02$ TeV. The in-medium energy loss can be studied via the nuclear modification factor measurement. The measurement of the D-meson elliptic flow, $v_2$, allows us to investigate the participation of the heavy quarks in the collective expansion of the system at low momentum and their possible thermalization in the medium. Furthermore, the Event-Shape Engineering technique is used to measure D-meson elliptic flow in order to study the coupling of the charm quarks to the light quarks of the underlying medium.