Abstract
We report measurements of the production of prompt D0, D+, D*+ and Ds+ mesons in Pb–Pb collisions at the centre-of-mass energy per nucleon-nucleon pair sqrt{s_{mathrm{NN}}}=5.02 TeV, in the centrality classes 0–10%, 30–50% and 60–80%. The D-meson production yields are measured at mid-rapidity (|y| < 0.5) as a function of transverse momentum (pT). The pT intervals covered in central collisions are: 1 < pT< 50 GeV/c for D0, 2 < pT< 50GeV/c for D+, 3 < pT< 50GeV/c for D*+, and 4 < pT< 16GeV/c for Ds+ mesons. The nuclear modification factors (RAA) for non-strange D mesons (D0, D+, D*+) show minimum values of about 0.2 for pT = 6–10 GeV/c in the most central collisions and are compatible within uncertainties with those measured at {sqrt{s}}_{mathrm{NN}}=2.76 TeV. For Ds+ mesons, the values of RAA are larger than those of non-strange D mesons, but compatible within uncertainties. In central collisions the average RAA of non-strange D mesons is compatible with that of charged particles for pT> 8 GeV/c, while it is larger at lower pT. The nuclear modification factors for strange and non-strange D mesons are also compared to theoretical models with different implementations of in-medium energy loss.
Highlights
JHEP10(2018)174 the large abundance of strange quarks in nucleus-nucleus collisions with respect to protonproton collisions is expected to lead to an increased production of D+s mesons relative to non-strange D mesons [17]
The D-meson nuclear modification factor in p–Pb collisions at sNN = 5.02 TeV, where an extended QGP phase is not expected to be formed, was found to be consistent with unity within uncertainties for 0 < pT < 24 GeV/c [27]. These results indicate that the strong suppression is due to substantial final-state interactions of charm quarks with the QGP formed in Pb–Pb collisions
The analysed sample consists of Pb–Pb collision data recorded with a minimum-bias interaction trigger that required coincident signals in both scintillator arrays of the V0 detector [34]
Summary
A description of the ALICE experimental apparatus and its performance in pp, p–Pb and Pb–Pb collisions can be found in [28, 29]. The main detectors used in the present analysis. The analysed sample consists of Pb–Pb collision data recorded with a minimum-bias interaction trigger that required coincident signals in both scintillator arrays of the V0 detector [34]. Events with a reconstructed interaction point (primary vertex) within ±10 cm from the centre of the ITS detector along the beam line were used in the analysis. Collisions were divided into centrality classes, determined from the sum of the V0 signal amplitudes and defined in terms of percentiles of the hadronic Pb–Pb cross section. The centrality classes used in the present analysis, together with the corresponding average nuclear overlap function TAA [36] and the number of events (Nevents) in each class, are summarised in table 1. The corresponding integrated luminosity is about Lint ≈ 13 μb−1 [37]
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