Abstract: Consequences of a Lambda_c/D enhancement effect on the non-photonic electron nuclear modification factor in central heavy ion collisions at RHIC energy.

The RHIC experiments have measured the nuclear modification factor of non-photonic electrons in Au+Au collisions at = 200 GeV. This exhibits a large suppression for p_t > 2 GeV/c which is commonly attributed to heavy-quark energy loss.\ In order to reproduce satisfactorily the data, energy-loss models assume a heavy-quark energy loss similar to that of light quarks. However, it is expected that the heavy-quark radiative energy loss is smaller than the light quark one because of the so-called dead-cone effect.\ We have shown that a charm baryon/meson enhancement, as it is observed for light and strange quarks, can explain part of the suppression.\ We show here that a Lambda_c/D ratio close to unity, as observed for light and strange quarks, could explain 20-25% of the suppression of non-photonic electrons in central Au+Au collisions. This effect remains significant at relatively high non-photonic electron transverse momenta of 8-9 GeV/c.