Scaling behaviors of heavy flavor meson suppression and flow in different nuclear collision systems at the LHC

Shu-Qing Li,Wen-Jing Xing,Shanshan Cao,Guang-You Qin,Xiang-Yu Wu

doi:10.1140/epjc/s10052-021-09833-y

Shu-Qing Li, Wen-Jing Xing + Show 3 more

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https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-021-09833-y

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Abstract

We explore the system size dependence of heavy-quark-QGP interaction by studying the heavy flavor meson suppression and elliptic flow in Pb–Pb, Xe–Xe, Ar–Ar and O–O collisions at the LHC. The space-time evolution of the QGP is simulated using a (3+1)-dimensional viscous hydrodynamic model, while the heavy-quark-QGP interaction is described by an improved Langevin approach that includes both collisional and radiative energy loss inside a thermal medium. Within this framework, we provides a reasonable description of the D meson suppression and flow coefficients in Pb–Pb collisions, as well as predictions for both D and B meson observables in other collision systems yet to be measured. We find a clear hierarchy for the heavy meson suppression with respect to the size of the colliding nuclei, while their elliptic flow coefficient relies on both the system size and the geometric anisotropy of the QGP. Sizable suppression and flow are predicted for both D and B mesons in O–O collisions, which serve as a crucial bridge of jet quenching between large and small collision systems. Scaling behaviors between different collision systems are shown for heavy meson suppression factor and the bulk-eccentricity-rescaled heavy meson elliptic flow as functions of the number of participant nucleons in heavy-ion collisions.

Highlights

A large number of experimental evidences from relativistic heavy-ion collisions at the Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collider (RHIC) and the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) [2], among which anisotropic flow and jet quenching are considered as the two most important signatures of the formation of quark-gluon plasma (QGP)
Within our Langevin-hydrodynamics framework, we have performed a systematic study on the system size dependence of heavy quark energy loss in heavy-ion collisions at the LHC energies
The space-time evolution of the QGP produced in different collision systems is simulated using our (3 + 1)-dimensional CLVisc hydrodynamic model

Summary

Introduction

A large number of experimental evidences from relativistic heavy-ion collisions at the Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collider (RHIC) and the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) [2], among which anisotropic flow and jet quenching are considered as the two most important signatures of the formation of QGP. We find that both RAA and the bulk-eccentricity-rescaled elliptic flow (v2/ε2) of heavy flavor mesons scale with the number of participant nucleons (Npart) These findings help to disentangle the effects of the overall intensity of medium modification and its geometric asymmetry on jet quenching observables, which can be tested by future measurements. 4, our numerical results on D and B meson RAA and v2 are presented for different centrality regions across Pb–Pb, Xe–Xe, Ar–Ar and O–O collision systems, from which the hierarchy and scaling behaviors of these observables with respect to the system size, medium geometry and heavy quark mass will be investigated in detail.

Hydrodynamic simulation of medium profiles

Heavy quark evolution inside QGP

Heavy flavor meson suppression and flow

Summary