Measurements of the suppression and anisotropy of heavy-flavour particles in Pb--Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_\mathrm{NN}}$= 2.76 TeV with ALICE

Abstract

Heavy quarks, i.e. charm and beauty, are produced on a shorter time scale with respect to the strongly-interacting matter produced in high-energy heavy-ion collisions. Therefore, they are unique probes to study the mechanisms of parton energy loss, hadronisation and thermalization in the hot and dense state of matter. The nuclear modification factor ($R_{\rm AA}$) and the elliptic flow ($v_{2}$) are two of the main experimental observables that allow us to investigate the interaction strength of heavy quarks with the medium. The most recent results on heavy-flavour production and elliptic flow measured by the ALICE collaboration in Pb--Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_\mathrm{NN}}$ = 2.76 TeV will be discussed.