Speaker
Prof.
Frank Geurts
(Rice University (US))
Description
At RHIC energies, heavy quark pairs are mostly produced through initial hard scatter- ings, leading to a cleaner interpretation and understanding of the measurements in heavy- ion collisions. Correlations between heavy flavor quark (c, b) pairs offer a unique insight into early interaction dynamics of the hot and dense QCD matter. In the meantime, a comprehensive investigation of heavy quark pair production mechanisms in proton- proton collisions is of great importance and interest as a fundamental perturbative QCD (pQCD) test and baseline measurement for heavy-ion collisions.
We report new STAR measurements of heavy flavor correlations in p+p and Au+Au
collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 200 GeV and p+p collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 500 GeV using D mesons, Non-Photonic Electrons (NPE) from semileptonic decays of open heavy flavor hadrons as well
as J/$\psi$'s as trigger particles. Azimuthal angular correlation distributions between trigger
D mesons and associated charged hadrons (D-h), NPE (D-NPE) as well as anti-D mesons
(D-$\overline{\rm{D}}$) are measured in p+p 500 GeV for the first time. Results with much improved precisions are also obtained on J/$\psi$-h and NPE-h correlations in p+p collisions at $\sqrt{s}$= 200 and 500 GeV, respectively. These results are compared with pQCD calculations
to improve understanding of charm and bottom quark production in elementary hadron
collisions. NPE-h correlations are also measured in Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ =200 GeV and compared with those in p+p collisions at
$\sqrt{s}$=200 GeV to investigate parton-medium interactions. Finally, the first measurement of electron-muon correlations from heavy flavor quark-antiquark pair decays is presented, utilizing the new STAR Heavy Flavor Tracker and Muon Telescope Detector in Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 200 GeV. Prospects of heavy flavor correlation measurements in heavy-ion collisions are discussed.
| On behalf of collaboration: | STAR |
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Primary author
Prof.
Frank Geurts
(Rice University (US))
