ATLAS measurements of the production of muons from heavy-flavor decays in sNN=2.76 TeV Pb+Pb collisions and s=2.76 TeV pp collisions at the LHC are presented. Integrated luminosities of 0.14 nb-1 and 570 nb-1 are used for the Pb+Pb and pp measurements, respectively, which are performed over the muon transverse momentum range 4<pT<14 GeV and for five Pb+Pb centrality intervals. Backgrounds arising from in-flight pion and kaon decays, hadronic showers, and misreconstructed muons are statistically removed using a template-fitting procedure. The heavy-flavor muon differential cross sections and per-event yields are measured in pp and Pb+Pb collisions, respectively. The nuclear modification factor RAA obtained from these is observed to be independent of pT, within uncertainties, and to be less than unity, which indicates suppressed production of heavy-flavor muons in Pb+Pb collisions. For the 10% most central Pb+Pb events, the measured RAA is approximately 0.35. The azimuthal modulation of the heavy-flavor muon yields is also measured and the associated Fourier coefficients vn for n=2, 3, and 4 are given as a function of pT and centrality. They vary slowly with pT and show a systematic variation with centrality which is characteristic of other anisotropy measurements, such as that observed for inclusive hadrons. The measured RAA and vn values are also compared with theoretical calculations.

Aaboud, M., Aad, G., Abbott, B., Abdinov, O., Abeloos, B., Abhayasinghe, D.K., et al. (2018). Measurement of the suppression and azimuthal anisotropy of muons from heavy-flavor decays in Pb+Pb collisions at sNN =2.76 TeV with the ATLAS detector. PHYSICAL REVIEW C, 98(4) [10.1103/PhysRevC.98.044905].

Measurement of the suppression and azimuthal anisotropy of muons from heavy-flavor decays in Pb+Pb collisions at sNN =2.76 TeV with the ATLAS detector

Ceradini, F.;Di Micco, B.;Di Nardo, R.;Orestano, D.;