2025/02/14 by Lejing Zhang, Zhang, Lejing, Xiaowen Li +7
Physics and Astronomy · #FOS: Physical sciences #High Energy Physics - Phenomenology (hep-ph) #High-Energy Particle Collisions Research #Nuclear Experiment (nucl-ex) #Nuclear Theory (nucl-th) #Quantum Chromodynamics and Particle Interactions
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2502.10107
openalex publication_date 2025/02/14 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
The nuclear modification factor (RAA) of Bc mesons in high-energy nuclear collisions provides a novel probe of heavy quark interactions with the quark-gluon plasma (QGP). Based on a linear Boltzmann transport model that incorporates both Yukawa and string types of interactions between heavy quarks and the QGP, we study the production and evolution of heavy quarks and Bc mesons within the same framework. A Bc bound state dissociates while one of its constituent heavy quarks scatters with the QGP with momentum transfer greater than its binding energy. The medium-modified charm and bottom quarks can recombine into Bc mesons, and the medium-modified bottom quarks can also fragment to Bc mesons. We find that most primordial Bc mesons generated from the initial hard collisions dissociate inside the QGP. The production of Bc mesons is primarily driven by the recombination mechanism at low transverse momentum and fragmentation at high transverse momentum. The string interaction dominates over the Yukawa interaction in the nuclear modification of Bc mesons. The participant number dependence of the Bc meson RAA is determined by the complicated interplay between the heavy quark yield, energy loss, and the QGP volume. We obtain a reasonable description of the RAA of Bc mesons in Pb+Pb collisions at √(sNN)=5.02 TeV, and provide predictions for Au+Au collisions at √(sNN)=200 GeV.