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Open heavy-flavor transport and hadronization in heavy-ion collisions

Yu Fu, Tharun Krishna, Weiyao Ke, Steffen A. Bass, Ralf Rapp

TL;DR

This work addresses the need for a unified, end-to-end description of heavy-quark transport through the QGP, from production in ultrarelativistic collisions to hadronization and hadronic rescattering. It combines a $T_{\text{RENTo}}$-based bulk medium with (2+1)D viscous hydrodynamics, nonperturbative $T$-matrix diffusion including medium-induced radiation, and two hadronization schemes—iSCM with fragmentation and RRM with HQET fragmentation—implemented within the LIDO framework. The study demonstrates that heavy-quark observables for $D$ mesons in Pb–Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}} = 5.02$ TeV are sensitive to the choice of in-medium potential, with Vector confinement potential (VCP) generally yielding better agreement with $R_{AA}$ and $v_2$ data than Wilson-line correlator (WLC) constraints. The results support the viability of extracting HQ transport coefficients and QGP properties from open heavy-flavor data and set the stage for future event-by-event simulations and bottom-quark extensions. Overall, the framework advances the integration of nonperturbative HQ dynamics with realistic bulk evolution and hadronization, enabling more precise comparisons with LHC measurements.

Abstract

We develop a comprehensive model for heavy-quark evolution in a realistic QGP, from their production in the initial collision to hadronic freeze-out. Heavy-quark transport is described by a Langevin approach including medium-induced radiation, coupled to a 2+1D viscous hydrodynamic bulk evolution. Transport coefficients are obtained from non-perturbative $T$-matrix calculations with resonant correlations near the transition temperature. Hadronization is implemented via two fragmentation+recombination schemes: an improved sudden coalescence model and a resonance recombination model. We present results for key open heavy-flavor observables, i.e., the nuclear modification factor and elliptic flow, and compare to LHC Pb-Pb data at $\sqrt{s_{\NN}}$=5.02\,TeV.}

Open heavy-flavor transport and hadronization in heavy-ion collisions

TL;DR

This work addresses the need for a unified, end-to-end description of heavy-quark transport through the QGP, from production in ultrarelativistic collisions to hadronization and hadronic rescattering. It combines a -based bulk medium with (2+1)D viscous hydrodynamics, nonperturbative -matrix diffusion including medium-induced radiation, and two hadronization schemes—iSCM with fragmentation and RRM with HQET fragmentation—implemented within the LIDO framework. The study demonstrates that heavy-quark observables for mesons in Pb–Pb collisions at TeV are sensitive to the choice of in-medium potential, with Vector confinement potential (VCP) generally yielding better agreement with and data than Wilson-line correlator (WLC) constraints. The results support the viability of extracting HQ transport coefficients and QGP properties from open heavy-flavor data and set the stage for future event-by-event simulations and bottom-quark extensions. Overall, the framework advances the integration of nonperturbative HQ dynamics with realistic bulk evolution and hadronization, enabling more precise comparisons with LHC measurements.

Abstract

We develop a comprehensive model for heavy-quark evolution in a realistic QGP, from their production in the initial collision to hadronic freeze-out. Heavy-quark transport is described by a Langevin approach including medium-induced radiation, coupled to a 2+1D viscous hydrodynamic bulk evolution. Transport coefficients are obtained from non-perturbative -matrix calculations with resonant correlations near the transition temperature. Hadronization is implemented via two fragmentation+recombination schemes: an improved sudden coalescence model and a resonance recombination model. We present results for key open heavy-flavor observables, i.e., the nuclear modification factor and elliptic flow, and compare to LHC Pb-Pb data at =5.02\,TeV.}

Paper Structure

This paper contains 8 sections, 2 figures.

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Framework
  3. Bulk evolution model
  4. Heavy quark transport in the QGP
  5. Heavy quark medium interaction
  6. Heavy quark hadronization
  7. Results
  8. Summary

Figures (2)

  • Figure 1: Left: Friction coefficient for charm quarks from $T$-matrix calculations in the VCP (red) and WLC (blue) scenarios at $T$=180 MeV (solid) and 300 MeV (dotted). Right: Spatial diffusion coefficient for charm quarks in comparison to recent lattice data Altenkort:2023omsAltenkort:2023eav.
  • Figure 2: Nuclear modification factor (right 2 panels) and elliptic flow (left 2 panels) of $D$-mesons at central rapidity in 30-50% central Pb-Pb($\sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}}=5.02$ TeV) collisions, compared to ALICE ALICE:2021rxaALICE:2020iug and CMS CMS:2020bnz data. Red and blue curves correspond to calculations with VCP and WLC potentials, respectively. Results from different hadronization models are compared in the subpanels.