Medium-induced modification of azimuthal correlations of electrons from heavy-flavor hadron decays with charged particles in Pb–Pb collisions at sNN=5.02 TeV

The azimuthal-correlation distributions between electrons from the decays of heavy-flavor hadrons and associated charged particles in Pb–Pb collisions at $$\sqrt{s_{\textrm{NN}}} = 5.02$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mrow> <mml:msqrt> <mml:msub> <mml:mi>s</mml:mi> <mml:mtext>NN</mml:mtext> </mml:msub> </mml:msqrt> <mml:mo>=</mml:mo> <mml:mn>5.02</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> TeV are reported for the 0–10% and 30–50% centrality classes. This measurement provides access to the jet-like correlation observables in the heavy-flavor sector in Pb–Pb collisions. The analysis is performed for trigger electrons from heavy-flavor hadron decays with transverse momentum $$4&lt; p_\textrm{T}^\textrm{e} &lt; 16~\textrm{GeV}/c$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mrow> <mml:mn>4</mml:mn> <mml:mo>&lt;</mml:mo> <mml:msubsup> <mml:mi>p</mml:mi> <mml:mtext>T</mml:mtext> <mml:mtext>e</mml:mtext> </mml:msubsup> <mml:mo>&lt;</mml:mo> <mml:mn>16</mml:mn> <mml:mspace/> <mml:mtext>GeV</mml:mtext> <mml:mo>/</mml:mo> <mml:mi>c</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> , considering associated particles within the transverse-momentum range $$1&lt; p_\textrm{T}^\textrm{assoc} &lt; 7$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mrow> <mml:mn>1</mml:mn> <mml:mo>&lt;</mml:mo> <mml:msubsup> <mml:mi>p</mml:mi> <mml:mtext>T</mml:mtext> <mml:mtext>assoc</mml:mtext> </mml:msubsup> <mml:mo>&lt;</mml:mo> <mml:mn>7</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> $$\textrm{GeV}/c$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mrow> <mml:mtext>GeV</mml:mtext> <mml:mo>/</mml:mo> <mml:mi>c</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> , and a pseudorapidity difference of $$|\Delta \eta |&lt;1$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>|</mml:mo> <mml:mi>Δ</mml:mi> <mml:mi>η</mml:mi> <mml:mo>|</mml:mo> <mml:mo>&lt;</mml:mo> <mml:mn>1</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> between the trigger electron and associated particles. The per-trigger nuclear modification factor ( $$I_\textrm{AA}$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:msub> <mml:mi>I</mml:mi> <mml:mtext>AA</mml:mtext> </mml:msub> </mml:math> ) is calculated to compare the near- and away-side peak yields to those in pp collisions at $$\sqrt{s} = 5.02$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mrow> <mml:msqrt> <mml:mi>s</mml:mi> </mml:msqrt> <mml:mo>=</mml:mo> <mml:mn>5.02</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> TeV. In 0–10% central collisions, the $$I_\textrm{AA}$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:msub> <mml:mi>I</mml:mi> <mml:mtext>AA</mml:mtext> </mml:msub> </mml:math> indicates a hint of enhancement of associated-particle yields with $$p_\textrm{T}&lt;3$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mrow> <mml:msub> <mml:mi>p</mml:mi> <mml:mtext>T</mml:mtext> </mml:msub> <mml:mo>&lt;</mml:mo> <mml:mn>3</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> GeV/ c on the near side, and a suppression of yields with $$p_\textrm{T}&gt;4$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mrow> <mml:msub> <mml:mi>p</mml:mi> <mml:mtext>T</mml:mtext> </mml:msub> <mml:mo>&gt;</mml:mo> <mml:mn>4</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> GeV/ c on the away side. The $$I_\textrm{AA}$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:msub> <mml:mi>I</mml:mi> <mml:mtext>AA</mml:mtext> </mml:msub> </mml:math> for electron triggers from heavy-flavor hadron decays is compared with that for light-flavor and strange-particle triggers to investigate the dependence on different fragmentation processes and parton-medium dynamics, and is found to be the same within uncertainties.