A new contribution to the nuclear modification factor of non-photonic electrons in Au+Au collisions at sqrt(s) = 200 GeV

Abstract

We investigate the effect of the so-called anomalous baryon/meson enhancement to the nuclear modification factor of non-photonic electrons in Au+Au collisions at sqrt(s) = 200 GeV. It is demonstrated that an enhancement of the charm baryon/meson ratio, as it is observed for non-strange and strange hadrons, can be responsible for part of the amplitude of the nuclear modification factor of non-photonic electrons. About half of the measured suppression of non-photonic electrons in the 2-4 pt range can be explained by a charm baryon/meson enhancement of 5. This contribution to the non-photonic electron nuclear modification factor has nothing to do with heavy quark energy loss.