Measurement of D-meson production and flow in Pb–Pb collisions with ALICE at the LHC

Abstract

Open-charmed mesons are unique tools to study the properties of the Quark–Gluon Plasma (QGP) formed in ultra-relativistic nucleus–nucleus collisions. The nuclear modification factor ([Formula: see text]) and elliptic flow ([Formula: see text]) of [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text], and [Formula: see text] mesons were measured by the ALICE Collaboration in Pb–Pb collisions at [Formula: see text][Formula: see text]TeV. The D-meson [Formula: see text] provides information on the charm-quark interactions with the medium and the charm-quark energy loss. The D-meson elliptic flow at low transverse momentum ([Formula: see text]) gives insight into the participation of charm quarks in the collective expansion of the system and their possible in-medium thermalization. At high [Formula: see text], the [Formula: see text] is sensitive to the path-length dependence of parton energy loss. The role of the recombination mechanism is investigated measuring the [Formula: see text]-differential yield ratios between D-meson species with and without strange-quark content. Finally, the coupling of charm quarks to light quarks of the underlying medium is examined applying the Event-Shape Engineering (ESE) technique to the nonstrange D-meson elliptic flow.