Heavy quarks at RHIC from parton transport theory
Published in:
European Physical Journal C 49,1 (2007) 181-186;
Abstract
There are several indications that an opaque partonic medium is created in energetic Au + Au collisions (root s(NN) similar to 100 GeV/nucleon) at the relativistic heavy ion collider (RHIC). At the extreme densities of similar to 10 - 100 times normal nuclear density reached, even heavy-flavor hadrons are affected significantly. Heavy-quark observables are presented from the parton transport model MPC, focusing on the nuclear suppression pattern, azimuthal anisotropy ("elliptic flow"), and azimuthal correlations. Comparison with Au + Au data at top RHIC energy root s(NN) = 200 GeV indicates significant heavy-quark rescattering, corresponding roughly five times higher opacities than estimates based on leading-order perturbative QCD. We propose measurements of charm - anticharm, e. g., D-meson azimuthal correlations as a sensitive, independent probe to corroborate these findings.
Keywords
p(t) azimuthal asymmetry;; elliptic flow;; ion collisions;; gluon plasma;; energy;; coalescence;; cascade
Date of this Version
January 2007