Heavy flavor measurements at the STAR experiment

Pavol Federic

doi:10.1051/epjconf/201713801015

Abstract

In ultra-relativistic heavy-ion collisions at RHIC, a new state of nuclear matter with extreme properties is produced — the strongly interacting quark-gluon plasma. Heavy quarks, predominantly produced at early stages of collisions owing to their large masses, provide an exceptional probe for exploring the hot and dense medium created in such collisions. The Heavy Flavor Tracker and Muon Telescope Detector have been fully operational since 2014 and have significantly improved STAR’s capabilities in measuring both open and hidden heavy flavor hadrons in heavy-ion collisions. We present an overview of recent heavy flavor results obtained at the STAR experiment.

Highlights

Heavy flavor quarks are predominantly produced early in heavy-ion collisions in hard scattering processes
Two new detectors dedicated to heavy flavor measurements, the Heavy Flavor Tracker (HFT) [1] and the Muon Telescope Detector (MTD) [2], were fully installed at the STAR experiment in the beginning of 2014
The main subsystems used in the following analyses are the Time Projection Chamber (TPC), Time Of Flight (TOF) detector, HFT and MTD

Summary

Introduction

Heavy flavor quarks are predominantly produced early in heavy-ion collisions in hard scattering processes. They experience the full evolution of the system. Two new detectors dedicated to heavy flavor measurements, the Heavy Flavor Tracker (HFT) [1] and the Muon Telescope Detector (MTD) [2], were fully installed at the STAR experiment in the beginning of 2014. In this proceedings we will report recent results from STAR using the HFT and MTD

STAR experiment

Open heavy flavor measurements

Quarkonium measurements with the MTD

Summary