Heavy flavor angular correlations as a direct probe of the glasma

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that heavy quark angular correlations are highly sensitive to the pre-equilibrium glasma phase in heavy ion collisions, offering a potential experimental probe for this early-stage physics.

Contribution

It introduces a method using classical equations of motion to show the impact of the glasma phase on heavy quark angular correlations, highlighting a new way to study pre-equilibrium dynamics.

Findings

Strong effect of glasma on heavy quark angular correlations

Moderate impact on single inclusive spectra

Potential for experimental detection at LHC

Abstract

We use classical equations of motion for heavy quarks to show that the pre-equilibrium glasma phase of a heavy ion collision has an extremely strong effect on heavy quark angular correlations. At the same time, the effect on the single inclusive spectrum is much more moderate. This suggests that $D\overline{D}$ meson angular correlations in future LHC measurements could provide direct experimental access to the physics of the pre-equilibrium stage.