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.