Speaker
Description
Measurements of open heavy flavour production in p--A collisions offer a way to study so called Cold Nuclear Matter (CNM) effects, which include gluon shadowing, gluon saturation, $k_{\rm T}$ broadening, and energy loss in CNM, that can affect the production rate and the kinematic properties of charm and beauty hadrons in nuclear collisions.
In addition, in recent years, in pp and p--Pb collisions one has abserved effects like long-range $v_{2}$-like angular correlations in high-multiplicity events or the enhancement of baryon production, typically observed in nucleus-nucleus collisions and ascribed to the collective expansion of the Quark-Gluon-Plasma (QGP). Therefore, one of the possible explanations advanced was the formation of a small-size QGP. The p--Pb measurement of angular correlations of heavy-flavour particles with charged particles, at central and forward rapidities, provide an important extension of studies performed with light-flavoured hadrons to further characterise the $v_{\rm 2}$-like behavior, understand its initial- or final-state nature, constrain its development in the partonic and/or hadronic stages, and better investigate its mass dependence. The study of open heavy flavour production in high-multiplicity p--Pb collisions can also add important information to address the expected connection between collective-like and energy-loss-like effects. Moreover, production studies as a function of the multiplicity of charged particles produced in the collision can give insight into multiple parton interactions and into the interplay between hard and soft processes
In this talk, we will present production measurements of D$^{0}$, D$^{+}$, D$^{*+}$ and D$_{s}^{+}$ mesons reconstructed with the ALICE detector via their hadronic decays at mid-rapidity in p--Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}$ = 5.02 TeV, collected during the LHC Run-2. In particular, we will report cross sections down to $p_{\rm T}$ = 0, nuclear-modification factors as well as multiplicity- and centrality-dependent studies.
The measurement of the production of heavy-flavour hadron decay electrons at central rapidity at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}$ = 5.02 and 8.16 TeV will be also presented. In this regard, we will discuss the measurement of $v_{\rm 2}$ of heavy-flavour hadron decay electrons in high-multiplicity p--Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}$ = 5.02 and the measurement of $v_{\rm 2}$ of muons from heavy- flavour hadron decays at forward rapidity in p--Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}$ = 8.16 TeV. The data will be compared to light flavour ones and theoretical calculations. The production results will be compared with predictions from theoretical models including CNM effects, as well as assuming the formation of a QGP in p--Pb collisions.