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HEAVY QUARKS AT RHIC FROM PARTON TRANSPORT THEORY.

Conference ·
OSTI ID:897802
There are several indications that an opaque partonic medium is created in energetic Au+Au collisions ({radical}s{sub NN} {approx} GeV/nucleon) at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). At the extreme densities of {approx} 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 {radical}s{sub 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.
Research Organization:
BROOKHAVEN NATIONAL LABORATORY
Sponsoring Organization:
DOE/SC AND RIKEN
DOE Contract Number:
AC02-98CH10886
OSTI ID:
897802
Report Number(s):
BNL--77386-2007-CP; KB-02-01
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English