Heavy Ion Tea

Probing the QCD Matter with Heavy Flavors in STAR
Jaroslav Bielcik (Yale University)

Abstract: One of the most striking discoveries at RHIC is the observed strong suppression of high-pT hadrons. This has been attributed to the radiative energy loss of the energetic partons via induced gluon radiation in the hot and dense matter before fragmenting into hadrons. The study of heavy quark production extends our understanding of this scenario. The heavy quarks can be studied directly, via full reconstruction of hadronic decays, or indirectly by measurement the electrons from their semileptonic decays. The results from the D0 reconstruction in STAR in d+Au and Au+Au collisions are presented, as well as the non-photonic single electron spectra from p+p, d+Au and Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=200$ GeV at RHIC. Azimuthal correlations of non-photonic electrons and charged hadrons yield essential information on heavy flavor production and allow a discrimination between charm and bottom contribution to the electron spectra due to different decay kinematics and away-side particle composition. Preliminary results on the relative contribution of the D and B mesons to the non-photonic electrons will be also presented.