QLBT: a linear Boltzmann transport model for heavy quarks in a quark-gluon plasma of quasi-particles
Feng‐Lei Liu, Wen-Jing Xing, Xiang-Yu Wu, Guang-You Qin, Shanshan Cao, Xin-Nian Wang
Abstract
Abstract We develop a new heavy quark transport model, QLBT, to simulate the dynamical propagation of heavy quarks inside the quark-gluon plasma (QGP) created in relativistic heavy-ion collisions. Our QLBT model is based on the linear Boltzmann transport (LBT) model with the ideal QGP replaced by a collection of quasi-particles to account for the non-perturbative interactions among quarks and gluons of the hot QGP. The thermal masses of quasi-particles are fitted to the equation of state from lattice QCD simulations using the Bayesian statistical analysis method. Combining QLBT with our advanced hybrid fragmentation-coalescence hadronization approach, we calculate the nuclear modification factor $$R_\mathrm {AA}$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:msub> <mml:mi>R</mml:mi> <mml:mi>AA</mml:mi> </mml:msub> </mml:math> and the elliptic flow $$v_2$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:msub> <mml:mi>v</mml:mi> <mml:mn>2</mml:mn> </mml:msub> </mml:math> of D mesons at the Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collider and the Large Hadron Collider. By comparing our QLBT calculation to the experimental data on the D meson $$R_\mathrm {AA}$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:msub> <mml:mi>R</mml:mi> <mml:mi>AA</mml:mi> </mml:msub> </mml:math> and $$v_2$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:msub> <mml:mi>v</mml:mi> <mml:mn>2</mml:mn> </mml:msub> </mml:math> , we extract the heavy quark transport parameter $$\hat{q}$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mover> <mml:mi>q</mml:mi> <mml:mo>^</mml:mo> </mml:mover> </mml:math> and diffusion coefficient $$D_\mathrm {s}$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:msub> <mml:mi>D</mml:mi> <mml:mi>s</mml:mi> </mml:msub> </mml:math> in the temperature range of $$1-4~T_\mathrm {c}$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mrow> <mml:mn>1</mml:mn> <mml:mo>-</mml:mo> <mml:mn>4</mml:mn> <mml:mspace/> <mml:msub> <mml:mi>T</mml:mi> <mml:mi>c</mml:mi> </mml:msub> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> , and compare them with the lattice QCD results and other phenomenological studies.