Event-by-event correlations between soft hadrons and $D^0$ mesons in 5.02 TeV PbPb collisions at the CERN Large Hadron Collider

In this paper heavy quark energy loss models are embedded in full event-by-event viscous hydrodynamic simulations to investigate the nuclear suppression factor and the azimuthal anisotropy of $D^0$ mesons in $\text{PbPb}$ collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=5.02\mathrm{TeV}$ in the $p_{\text{T}}$ range $8–40\mathrm{GeV}$. In our model calculations, the $R_{AA}$ of $D^0$ mesons is consistent with experimental data from the CMS experiment. We present the first calculations of heavy flavor cumulants $v_2\left\{2\right\}$ and $v_3\left\{2\right\}$ (and also discuss $v_2\left\{4\right\}$), which is also consistent with experimental data. Event-shape engineering techniques are used to compute the event-by-event correlation between the soft hadron $v_n$ and the heavy meson $v_n$. We predict a linear correlation between these observables on an event-by-event basis.

Figure 1

$R_{AA}$ for $D^0$ mesons in 0–10% $\text{PbPb}$ collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=5.02\mathrm{TeV}$ and decoupling temperature $T_{\text{d}}=120\mathrm{MeV}$ comparing two energy loss models with experimental data from the CMS Collaboration [61].

Figure 2

$v_2\left\{2\right\}$ of $D^0$ mesons in 30–50% $\text{PbPb}$ collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=5.02\mathrm{TeV}$ comparing two energy loss models with CMS data [64]. The band corresponds to the decoupling temperature interval $120\le T_{\text{d}}\le 160\mathrm{MeV}$.

Figure 3

$v_3\left\{2\right\}$ of $D^0$ in 30–50% $\text{PbPb}$ collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=5.02\mathrm{TeV}$ comparing two energy loss models with CMS data [64]. The band corresponds to the decoupling temperature interval $120\le T_{\text{d}}\le 160\mathrm{MeV}$.

Figure 4

Event-by-event correlation between $D^0$ $v_2$ in the $p_{\text{T}}$ range $8–13\mathrm{GeV}$ and the soft hadron $v_2$ for two energy loss models in 30–50% $\text{PbPb}$ collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=5.02\mathrm{TeV}$. The solid lines stem from binning the heavy meson result by the soft hadron $v_2$.

Figure 5

Correlation between $v_n^{\text{(heavy)}}\left\{2\right\}$ for $p_{\text{T}}$ in $8–13\mathrm{GeV}$ and $v_n^{\text{(soft)}}$ for $D^0$ in 30–50% $\text{PbPb}$ collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=5.02\mathrm{TeV}$ using two energy loss models. The bands represent the variation of the decoupling temperature in $120\le T_{\text{d}}\le 160\mathrm{MeV}$.

Figure 6

Pearson coefficient described in Eq. (1) for $Q_2$ and $Q_3$ for $f(T,v)=\alpha$ and $f(T,v)=\xi T^2$ varying the decoupling temperature $T_{\mathrm{d}}=120–160$ MeV. Integrated $v_n^{\mathrm{heavy}}$ is used with the cut of $8<p_{\mathrm{T}}<13$ GeV.