Interactions between heavy quarks and tilted QGP fireballs in 200 AGeV Au+Au collisions

TL;DR

This paper uses an advanced Langevin and hydrodynamic model to study how tilted quark-gluon plasma affects heavy meson flow and suppression in heavy-ion collisions, providing insights into initial energy density asymmetries.

Contribution

It introduces a coupled Langevin-hydrodynamic approach to analyze heavy quark observables in tilted QGP, revealing the impact of medium tilt on flow coefficients and suppression patterns.

Findings

Tilted nuclear matter causes positive heavy flavor $v_1$ in backward rapidity.

Differences in $R_{AA}$ across angles reflect medium asymmetry.

Model results align with RHIC data and offer testable predictions.

Abstract

Heavy quark observables are applied to probe the initial energy density distribution with violation of longitudinal boost invariance produced in relativistic heavy-ion collisions. Using an improved Langevin model coupled to a (3+1)-dimensional viscous hydrodynamic model, we study the nuclear modification factor ($R_\text{AA}$), directed flow ($v_1$) and elliptic flow ($v_2$) coefficients of heavy mesons and their decayed electrons at the RHIC energy. We find that the counter-clockwise tilt of the nuclear matter in the reaction plane results in a positive (negative) heavy flavor $v_1$ in the backward (forward) rapidity region, whose magnitude increases with the heavy quark transverse momentum. The difference in the heavy flavor $R_\text{AA}$ between different angular regions is also proposed as a complementary tool to characterize the asymmetry of the medium profile. Our model results are consistent with currently available data at RHIC and provide predictions that can be tested by future measurements.