Open heavy flavor in Pb+Pb collisions at sqrt(s)=2.76 TeV within a transport model

Abstract

The space-time evolution of open heavy flavor is studied in Pb+Pb collisions at sqrt(s)=2.76 TeV using the partonic transport model Boltzmann Approach to MultiParton Scatterings (BAMPS). An updated version of BAMPS is presented which allows interactions among all partons: gluons, light quarks, and heavy quarks. Heavy quarks, in particular, interact with the rest of the medium via binary scatterings with a running coupling and a Debye screening which is matched by comparing to hard thermal loop calculations. The lack of radiative processes in the heavy flavor sector is accounted for by scaling the binary cross section with a phenomenological factor K=3.5, which describes well the elliptic flow v_2 and nuclear modification factor R_AA at RHIC. Within this framework we calculate in a comprehensive study the v_2 and R_AA of all interesting open heavy flavor particles at the LHC: electrons, muons, D mesons, and non-prompt J/psi from B mesons. We compare to experimental data, where it is already available, or make predictions. To do this accurately next-to-leading order initial heavy quark distributions are employed which agree well with proton-proton data of heavy flavor at sqrt(s)=7 TeV.