Transverse momentum dependence of D-meson production in Pb-Pb collisions at s N N = 2.76 TeV

The production of prompt charmed mesons D 0 , D + and D ∗+ , and their antiparticles, was measured with the ALICE detector in Pb-Pb collisions at the centre-of-mass energy per nucleon pair, s N N , of 2 . 76 TeV. The production yields for rapidity | y | < 0 . 5 are presented as a function of transverse momentum, p T , in the interval 1–36 GeV /c for the centrality class 0–10% and in the interval 1–16 GeV /c for the centrality class 30–50%. The nuclear modification factor R AA was computed using a proton-proton reference at s = 2.76 TeV, based on measurements at s = 7 TeV and on theoretical calculations. A maximum suppression by a factor of 5-6 with respect to binary-scaled pp yields is observed for the most central collisions at p T of about 10 GeV /c . A suppression by a factor of about 2-3 persists at the highest p T covered by the measurements. At low p T (1-3 GeV /c ), the R AA has large uncertainties that span the range 0.35 (factor of about 3 suppression) to 1 (no suppression). In all p T intervals, the R AA is larger in the 30-50% centrality class compared to central collisions. The D-meson R AA is also compared with that of charged pions and, at large p T , charged hadrons, and with model calculations.