Probing parton propagation in heavy-ion collisions with ALICE heavy-flavour measurements

Abstract

Heavy quarks (charm and beauty) are valuable probes for investigating the properties of the quark–gluon plasma (QGP) formed in ultra-relativistic heavy-ion collisions, as they are mainly produced through hard-scattering processes prior to the formation of the QGP, and their number is conserved during the subsequent QGP evolution. Measurements of the nuclear modification factor RAA of charm and beauty hadrons allow us to characterise the in-medium energy loss of heavy quarks while traversing the QGP. Information on their diffusion and degree of participation in the collective motion of the medium can be obtained by measuring the elliptic-flow coefficient v2 of heavy-flavour particles. Complementary insights into heavy-quark fragmentation and energy redistribution can be obtained by measuring angular correlations involving heavy-flavour particles. In this contribution, the recently published results on the non-prompt v2 coefficient of D0 mesons are presented, comparing them with those of other particle species in Pb–Pb collisions at √SNN = 5.02 TeV. Additionally, we report the recent findings on the RAA of prompt D mesons and Λc+ baryons in Pb–Pb collisions at the same energy. Furthermore, we discuss the new Pb–Pb results on angular correlations between heavy-flavour decay electrons and charged particles in the same collision system.