2009/07/31 by J. C. Dunlop · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #nucl-ex #hep-ex
paper · pdf · doi:10.1016/j.nuclphysa.2009.09.036
published as Nucl.Phys.A830:419c-426c,2009 · 8 pages, 5 figures - To appear in the conference proceedings for Quark Matter 2009, March 30 - April 4, Knoxville, Tennessee v2: typos corrected
arxiv created 2009/09/14 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01
The interaction of heavy partons, charm and beauty, with the matter created in heavy ion collisions has been of great interest in recent years. Heavy partons were predicted to interact less strongly with the matter than light partons. In apparent contrast to these predictions, unexpectedly strong suppression of non-photonic electrons from heavy flavor decays has been seen. However, significant experimental uncertainties remain, both in the measurements themselves and in the separation of the contribution from charm and beauty, which have complicated the interpretation of these results. The current experimental situation is critically reviewed and prospects for making these measurements more easily interpretable discussed.