Prompt D-0, D+, and D*(+) production in Pb-Pb collisions at √sNN = 5.02 TeV

The production of prompt D-0, D+, and D*(+) mesons was measured at midrapidity (vertical bar y vertical bar < 0.5) in Pb-Pb collisions at the centre-of-mass energy per nucleon-nucleon pair root S-NN = 5.02 TeV with the ALICE detector at the LHC. The D mesons were reconstructed via their hadronic decay channels and their production yields were measured in central (0-10%) and semicentral (30-50%) collisions. The measurement was performed up to a transverse momentum (p(T)) of 36 or 50 GeV/c depending on the D meson species and the centrality interval. For the first time in Pb-Pb collisions at the LHC, the yield of D-0 mesons was measured down to p(T) = 0, which allowed a model-independent determination of the p(T)-integrated yield per unit of rapidity (dN/dy). A maximum suppression by a factor 5 and 2.5 was observed with the nuclear modification factor (R-AA) of prompt D mesons at p(T) = 6-8 GeV/c for the 0-10% and 30-50% centrality classes, respectively. The D-meson R-AA is compared with that of charged pions, charged hadrons, and J/psi mesons as well as with theoretical predictions. The analysis of the agreement between the measured R-AA, elliptic (v(2)) and triangular (v(3)) flow, and the model predictions allowed us to constrain the charm spatial diffusion coefficient D-s. Furthermore the comparison of R-AA and v(2) with different implementations of the same models provides an important insight into the role of radiative energy loss as well as charm quark recombination in the hadronisation mechanisms.