6533b85bfe1ef96bd12bbdb0

RESEARCH PRODUCT

Production of muons from heavy-flavour hadron decays at high transverse momentum in Pb–Pb collisions atsNN=5.02and 2.76 TeV

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Abstract Measurements of the production of muons from heavy-flavour hadron decays in Pb–Pb collisions at s NN = 5.02 and 2.76 TeV using the ALICE detector at the LHC are reported. The nuclear modification factor R AA at s NN = 5.02 TeV is measured at forward rapidity ( 2.5 y 4 ) as a function of transverse momentum p T in central, semi-central, and peripheral collisions over a wide p T interval, 3 p T 20 GeV/c, in which muons from beauty-hadron decays are expected to take over from charm as the dominant source at high p T ( p T > 7 GeV/c). The R AA shows an increase of the suppression of the yields of muons from heavy-flavour hadron decays with increasing centrality. A suppression by a factor of about three is observed in the 10% most central collisions. The R AA at s NN = 5.02 TeV is similar to that at s NN = 2.76 TeV. The precise R AA measurements have the potential to distinguish between model predictions implementing different mechanisms of parton energy loss in the high-density medium formed in heavy-ion collisions. They place important constraints for the understanding of the heavy-quark interaction with the hot and dense QCD medium.