Testing AdS/CFT Drag and pQCD Heavy Quark Energy Loss

Abstract

We present charm and bottom nuclear modification factors for RHIC and LHC using Standard Model perturbative QCD and recent AdS/CFT string drag energy loss models. We find that extreme extrapolations to LHC mask potential experimentally determinable differences in the individual $R_{AA}$s but that their ratio, $R_{AA}^c/R_{AA}^b$ as a function of transverse momentum is a remarkably robust observable for finding deviations from either theoretical framework.

4 pages, 4 figures. Presented at the 20th International Conference on Ultra-Relativistic Nucleus-Nucleus Collisions: Quark Matter 2008 (QM2008), Jaipur, India, 4-10 Feb 2008