Recent heavy-flavour measurements from ALICE

TL;DR

This paper reviews recent measurements of heavy-flavour mesons and baryons by ALICE, providing insights into heavy-quark hadronisation, medium effects in high-energy collisions, and properties of the quark-gluon plasma.

Contribution

It presents new experimental results on charm and beauty production in various collision systems, highlighting the role of heavy-flavour observables in understanding QGP properties.

Findings

Measurement of nuclear modification factor ($R_{AA}$) for heavy-flavour hadrons.

Observation of elliptic flow ($v_2$) indicating heavy-quark participation in medium collective motion.

Evidence of medium-induced modifications in heavy-flavour production across different collision systems.

Abstract

Studying heavy-flavour mesons and baryons in hadronic collisions provides unique insights into the properties of heavy-quark hadronisation amid large partonic densities, where novel mechanisms beyond in-vacuum fragmentation may emerge. Examining heavy-flavour production across different collision systems and event multiplicities provides information about multi-parton interactions and the development of a strongly-interacting medium in high-multiplicity pp and p-Pb collisions. In Pb-Pb collisions, measurements of the nuclear modification factor ($R_{\rm AA}$) for charm and beauty hadrons provide a means to characterise the in-medium energy loss of heavy quarks in the quark-gluon plasma (QGP). In addition, measurements of the elliptic flow ($v_{2}$) for heavy quarks provide insights into their diffusion and their participation in the collective motion of the QGP. In this contribution, recent results of charm and beauty production measured with the ALICE detector are presented.