English

Recent PHENIX Results on Open Heavy Flavor

Nuclear Experiment 2015-05-30 v1

Abstract

Throughout the history of the RHIC physics program, questions concerning the dynamics of heavy quarks have generated much experimental and theoretical investigation. A major focus of the PHENIX experiment is the measurement of these quarks through their semi-leptonic decay channels at mid and forward rapidity. Heavy quark measurements in p+pp+p collisions give information on the production of heavy flavor, without complications from medium effects. New measurements in d+d+Au and Cu+Cu indicate surprising cold nuclear matter effects on these quarks at midrapidity, and provide a new baseline for interpretation of the observed suppression in Au+Au collisions. When considered all together, these measurements present a detailed study of nuclear matter across a wide range of system size and temperature. Here we present preliminary PHENIX measurements of non-photonic electron spectra and their centrality dependence in dd+Au and Cu+Cu, and discuss their implications on the current understanding of parton energy loss in the nuclear medium.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1108.6040,
  title  = {Recent PHENIX Results on Open Heavy Flavor},
  author = {J. Matthew Durham},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1108.6040},
  year   = {2015}
}

Comments

4 pages, 3 figures, to appear in the proceedings of Quark Matter 2011