Heavy quark suppression and anisotropic flow at intermediate momentum

TL;DR

This paper investigates heavy quark suppression and flow at intermediate momentum, combining collisional and radiative energy loss mechanisms within a Boltzmann framework constrained by lattice QCD, to understand their effects in heavy-ion collisions.

Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive model integrating elastic and semi-collinear gluon-bremsstrahlung processes into a Boltzmann equation for heavy quarks, constrained by lattice QCD data.

Findings

Both collisional and radiative energy losses significantly affect $R_{AA}$ and $v_2$.

The model captures the evolution of heavy quark observables in expanding thermal media.

Dependence on mass and collision centrality is analyzed in noncentral collisions.

Abstract

In an intermediate-momentum regime where mass effects are significant, heavy quark suppression and anisotropic flow are computed to investigate the transition between the collisional and radiative energy loss. Based on the collision kernel for diffusion, elastic scattering and semi-collinear gluon-bremsstrahlung can be consistently incorporated into a Boltzmann equation that involves the heavy quark diffusion coefficient. Using the running coupling constant and the diffusion coefficient constrained by lattice QCD data, the collisional and radiative energy-loss contributions to the $R_{AA}$ and $v_2$ are studied in hydrodynamically expanding thermal media. The evolution of the observables, the bulk flow effect, and the dependence on mass and centrality are discussed in noncentral heavy-ion collisions.