Investigating charm production and fragmentation via azimuthal correlations of prompt D mesons with charged particles in pp collisions at √s=13 TeV
[ALICE Collaboration]
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Angular correlations of heavy-flavour and charged particles in high-energy proton-proton collisions are sensitive to the production mechanisms of heavy quarks and to their fragmentation as well as hadronisation processes. The measurement of the azimuthal-correlation function of prompt D mesons with charged particles in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of s√=13 TeV with the ALICE detector is reported, considering D0, D+, and D∗+ mesons in the transverse-momentum interval 3 < p_{\rm T}
< 36 GeV/c at midrapidity (|y| < 0.5), and charged particles with pT>0.3 GeV/c and pseudorapidity |\eta| < 0.8. This measurement has an improved precision and provides an extended transverse-momentum coverage compared to previous ALICE measurements at lower energies. The study is also performed as a function of the charged-particle multiplicity, showing no modifications of the correlation function with multiplicity within uncertainties. The properties and the transverse-momentum evolution of the near- and away-side correlation peaks are studied and compared with predictions from various Monte Carlo event generators. The obtained results can provide constraints on the generators. Among those considered, PYTHIA8 and POWHEG+PYTHIA8 provide the best description of the measured observables.
Authors' comments: 32 pages, 11 captioned figures, 2 tables, authors from page 27, submitted to EPJC, figures at http://alice-publications.web.cern.ch/node/7447