D meson-hadron angular correlations in pp and p-Pb collisions with ALICE at the LHC

摘要

The comparison of angular correlations between charmed mesons and charged hadrons produced in pp, p-Pb and Pb-Pb collisions can give insight into charm quark energy loss mechanisms in the hot nuclear medium formed in heavy-ion collisions and can help to spot possible modifications of charm quark hadronization induced by the presence of the medium. The analysis of pp and p-Pb data and the comparison with predictions from pQCD calculations, besides constituting the necessary baseline for the interpretation of Pb-Pb results, can provide relevant information on charm production and fragmentation processes. We present a study of azimuthal correlations between D~0 and D*~+ mesons and charged hadrons measured by the ALICE experiment in pp collisions at √s = 7 TeV and p-Pb collisions at √s_(NN) = 5.02 TeV. D mesons were reconstructed from their hadronic decays at central rapidity and in the transverse momentum range 2 < p_T < 16 GeV/c, and they were correlated to charged hadrons reconstructed in the pseudorapidity range |η|< 0.8. The current status of the analysis in pp and p-Pb collisions and the prospects for Pb-Pb collisions are discussed.