Analysis of non-photonic electrons in Cu + Cu collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=200$ GeV

Abstract

Heavy-flavor semileptonic decays are expected to dominate the spectrum of non-photonic electrons produced from collisions at the energies of the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. The non-photonic electron yield is suppressed by approximately a factor of 5 in central Au + Au events at \(\sqrt{s_{NN}}=200\) GeV relative to p+p events with the same collision energy. Most theoretical models predict less non-photonic-electron suppression than is observed experimentally. We present a preliminary measurement of the yield of non-photonic electrons in Cu + Cu events at \(\sqrt{s_{NN}}=200\) GeV, as well as the nuclear modification factor.