Study on open charm hadron production and angular correlation in high-energy nuclear collisions

Abstract

We study the production and angular correlation of charm hadrons in hot and dense matter produced in high-energy nuclear–nuclear collisions within a multiphase transport model (AMPT). By triggering additional charm–anticharm quark pair production in the AMPT, the model describes the $$D^0$$ nuclear modification factor in the low and intermediate $$p_{{\rm T}}$$ regions in Au + Au collisions at $$ \sqrt{s_{{\rm NN}}}=200$$ GeV reasonably well. Further exploration of the $$D^0$$ pair azimuthal angular correlation for different centralities shows clear evolution from low-multiplicity to high-multiplicity events, which is associated with the number of charm quark interactions with medium partons during AMPT transport.