Heavy Flavor Production and Energy Loss with Two-Particle Correlations at PHENIX

Abstract

Heavy quarks are a valuable probe of the hot, dense medium created in a heavy ion collision, and are an important test of proposed mechanisms of energy loss. It was discovered that single non-photonic electrons are suppressed at a similar level to light hadrons, implying a comparable level of energy loss between light and heavy partons. Because theory has had a difficult time explaining the level of heavy quark energy loss, it is crucial to better understand charm and bottom suppression. Electron-hadron correlations have been used at PHENIX to study heavy flavor in both p + p and Au+Au collisions. In p + p the ratio of charm to bottom production has been measured using mass correlations through a partial reconstruction of the D meson. Electron-hadron angular correlations have also been used to study medium modification of heavy flavor, and we see hints of energy loss effects. A complementary study of correlated electron-muon pairs provides a clean measurement of heavy flavor production in a rapidity range not yet studied.