D-Dbar Correlations as a sensitive probe for thermalization in high-energy nuclear collisions

Abstract

We propose to measure azimuthal correlations of heavy-flavor hadrons to address the status of thermalization at the partonic stage of light quarks and gluons in high-energy nuclear collisions. In particular, we show that hadronic interactions at the late stage cannot significantly disturb the initial back-to-back azimuthal correlations of DDbar pairs. Thus, a decrease or the complete absence of these initial correlations does indicate frequent interactions of heavy-flavor quarks and also light partons in the partonic stage, which are essential for the early thermalization of light partons.

5 pages, 4 figures. Version accepted for publication in Phys.Lett.B

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• Heavy Quark Diffusion with Relativistic Langevin Dynamics in the Quark-Gluon Fluid
• Influence of hadronic bound states above $T_c$ on heavy-quark observables in Pb+Pb collisions at at the CERN Large Hadron Collider
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• A Study of the Properties of the QCD Phase Diagram in High-Energy Nuclear Collisions
• Modeling of heavy-flavor pair correlations in Au-Au collisions at 200 A GeV at the BNL Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider
• The effect of partonic wind on charm quark correlations in high-energy nuclear collisions
• Photon-tagged and B-meson-tagged b-jet production at the LHC
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• Observation of enhanced double parton scattering in proton-lead collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}}=8.16$ TeV
• Tests of the Quark-Gluon Plasma Coupling Strength at Early Times with Heavy Quarks
• Charm quarks in medium and their contribution to di-electron spectra in relativistic heavy ion collisions
• Squeezed back-to-back correlation of $\bqD^0{\bar \bqD}^0$ in relativistic heavy-ion collisions
• Momentum imbalance of D mesons in ultra-relativistic heavy-ion collisions at LHC
• Soft Open Charm Production in Heavy-Ion Collisions
• Possibility for $J/\Psi$ suppression in high multiplicity proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=7$TeV
• Heavy Flavor Dynamics in QGP and Hadron Gas
• Charmonium Production with QGP and Hadron Gas Effects at SPS and FAIR
• Elliptic flow and $R_{AA}$ of D mesons at FAIR comparing the UrQMD hybrid model and the coarse-graining approach
• Open charm hadron production via hadronic decays at STAR
• Heavy-quark azimuthal momentum correlations as a sensitive probe of thermalization
• Study of a background reconstruction method for the measurement of D-meson azimuthal angular correlations
• Open Charm Production in $p+p$ and Pb + Pb collisions at the CERN Large Hadron Collider
• Probing the Gluon Plasma with Charm Balance Functions
• Charm balance function in relativistic heavy-ion collisions
• Heavy--quark momentum correlations as a sensitive probe of thermalization
• Prompt production of D mesons with ALICE at the LHC
• Cosmology from Strong Interactions
• Study of Heavy Hadron Production in Au + Au Collisions at a Center-of-Mass Energy of $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=200$ GeV