Speaker
Laura Patel
(Georgia State University)
Description
Due to their large mass, heavy quarks are produced in the earliest
stages of the collision and will, therefore, experience the full
evolution of the system. Leptons resulting from heavy flavor decay are
an important tool to probe the hot and dense matter created in nucleus-
nucleus collisions at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC).
PHENIX is capable of measuring electrons in the central rapidity
region (|eta| < 0.35) and muons in the forward rapidity region (1.2 < |
eta| < 2.2).
PHENIX has multiple cross section measurements in p+p collisions at
200 and 500 GeV. These measurements provide a test of pQCD theory in
additional to a crucial baseline to study the hot and cold nuclear
matter effects present in heavy ion collisions. Similar measurements
in d+Au allow access to initial state cold nuclear matter effects.
Modification of heavy flavor production in heavy ion collisions (Au+Au
and Cu+Cu) is beyond that expected from cold nuclear matter effects
alone. In this talk, PHENIX open heavy flavor results from p+p, d+Au,
and heavy ion measurements will be presented.
Author
Laura Patel
(Georgia State University)
