Measurement of D0, D+, D∗+ and D+s production in Pb–Pb collisions at √sNN = 5.02 TeV

Abstract

We report measurements of the production of prompt D0, D+, D∗+ and D+s mesons in Pb-Pb collisions at the centre-of-mass energy per nucleon-nucleon pair sNN‾‾‾‾√=5.02 TeV, in the centrality classes 0-10%, 30-50% and 60-80%. The D-meson production yields are measured at mid-rapidity (|y|<0.5) as a function of transverse momentum (pT). The pT intervals covered in central collisions are: 1<pT<50 Gev/c for D0, 2<pT<50 GeV/c for D+, 3<pT<50 GeV/c for D∗+, and 4<pT<16 GeV/c for D+s mesons. The nuclear modification factors (RAA) for non-strange D mesons (D0, D+, D∗+) show minimum values of about 0.2 for pT = 6-10 GeV/c in the most central collisions and are compatible within uncertainties with those measured at sNN‾‾‾‾√=2.76 TeV. For D+s mesons, the values of RAA are larger than those of non-strange D mesons, but compatible within uncertainties. In central collisions the average RAA of non-strange D mesons is compatible with that of charged particles for pT>8 GeV/c, while it is larger at lower pT. The nuclear modification factors for strange and non-strange D mesons are also compared to theoretical models with different implementations of in-medium energy loss.