Azimuthal correlations of electrons from heavy-flavor decay with hadrons in p+p and Au+Au collisions at sqrt(s_NN)=200 GeV

Understand

Measurements of electrons from the decay of open-heavy-flavor mesons have shown that the yields are suppressed in Au+Au collisions compared to expectations from binary scaled p+p collisions.

• These measurements indicate that charm and bottom quarks interact with the hot-dense matter produced in heavy-ion collisions much more than expected.
• Here we extend these studies to two-particle correlations where one particle is an electron from the decay of a heavy-flavor meson and the other is a charged hadron from either the decay of the heavy meson or from jet fragmentation.
• These measurements provide more detailed information about the interactions between heavy quarks and the matter, such as whether the modification of the away-side-jet shape seen in hadron-hadron correlations is present when the trigger particle is from heavy-meson decay and whether the overall level of away-side jet suppression is consistent.