Nuclear modification factor of nonphotonic electrons in heavy-ion collisions, and the heavy-flavor baryon-to-meson ratio

Journal Article · Mon Jun 15 00:00:00 EDT 2009 · Physical Review. C, Nuclear Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVC.79.067902· OSTI ID:21293760

Oh, Yongseok; Ko, Che Ming ^[1]

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1. Cyclotron Institute and Physics Department, Texas A and M University, College Station, Texas 77843 (United States)

The nuclear modification factor R{sub AA} of nonphotonic electrons in Au+Au collisions at {radical}(s{sub NN})=200 GeV is studied by considering the decays of heavy-flavor hadrons produced in a quark coalescence model. Although an enhanced {lambda}{sub c}/D{sup 0} ratio is predicted by the coalescence model, it is peaked at small transverse momenta ({approx}2 GeV) due to the large difference between heavy and light quark masses. As a result, the enhanced {lambda}{sub c}/D{sup 0} ratio, which is expected to suppress the electron R{sub AA} as the branching ratio of {lambda}{sub c} decay into electrons is smaller than that of D{sup 0}, does not lead to additional suppression of the electron R{sub AA} at large transverse momenta ({>=}5 GeV), where the suppression is mainly due to heavy quark energy loss in produced quark-gluon plasma. Also, the enhanced {lambda}{sub b}/B{sup 0} ratio predicted by the coalescence model has even smaller effect on the nonphotonic electron R{sub AA} as bottom baryons and mesons have similar branching ratios for semileptonic decays into electrons.

• OSTI ID: 21293760
• Journal Information: Physical Review. C, Nuclear Physics, Vol. 79, Issue 6; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevC.79.067902; (c) 2009 The American Physical Society; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0556-2813
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS
ATOM-ATOM COLLISIONS
B NEUTRAL MESONS
B QUARKS
BEAUTY BARYONS
BRANCHING RATIO
C QUARKS
COALESCENCE
D NEUTRAL MESONS
D QUARKS
ELECTRONS
ENERGY LOSSES
FLAVOR MODEL
GEV RANGE 100-1000
GOLD
HEAVY ION REACTIONS
MASS
MODIFICATIONS
QUARK MATTER
SEMILEPTONIC DECAY
T QUARKS
TRANSVERSE MOMENTUM
U QUARKS