Heavy-flavor hadronization mechanism from pp to AA collisions: a theoretical perspective

Abstract

The interest in studying heavy-flavor hadronization in high-energy nuclear collisions is twofold. On one hand hadronization represents a source of systematic uncertainties in phenomenological attempts of extracting heavy-flavor transport coefficients in the Quark Gluon Plasma which one assumes to be produced in the collision. Hence, developing the most possible reliable model for this process is important to get a precise and accurate estimate of a fundamental property of hot QCD. On the other hand studying how hadronization changes in the presence of a dense medium of colored partons can be considered an issue of interest by itself. In particular, the observation of modifications of heavy-flavor hadronization in proton-proton collisions strongly suggests that also in this case a small droplet of Quark-Gluon Plasma can be formed. Here we try to provide a general overview on heavy-flavor hadronization, from pp to AA collisions, stressing the aspects and challenges common to all mechanisms proposed in the literature. Then, focusing on a particular model, we show how a consistent description of several observables involving heavy-flavor hadrons can be obtained