Bottom quark energy loss and hadronization with B

The production cross sections of and B mesons are reported in proton-proton (pp) collisions recorded by the CMS experiment at the CERN LHC with a center-of-mass energy of 5.02 TeV. The data sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 302 pb . The cross sections are based on measurements of the $\textit{→}$ J$\textit{/ψ}$($\textit{μ}$ $\textit{μ}$ )$\textit{ϕ}$(1020)(K K ) and B $\textit{→}$ J$\textit{/ψ}$($\textit{μ}$ $\textit{μ}$ )K decay channels. Results are presented in the transverse momentum ($\textit{p}$ ) range 7–50 GeV$\textit{/c}$ and the rapidity interval |$\textit{y}$| $\textit{<}$ 2$\textit{.}$4 for the B mesons. The measured $\textit{p}$ -differential cross sections of B and in pp collisions are well described by fixed-order plus next-to-leading logarithm perturbative quantum chromodynamics calculations. Using previous PbPb collision measurements at the same nucleon-nucleon center-of-mass energy, the nuclear modification factors, $\textit{R}$ , of the B mesons are determined. For $\textit{p}$ $\textit{>}$ 10 GeV$\textit{/c}$, both mesons are found to be suppressed in PbPb collisions (with $\textit{R}$ values significantly below unity), with less suppression observed for the mesons. In this $\textit{p}$ range, the $\textit{R}$ values for the B mesons are consistent with those for inclusive charged hadrons and D mesons. Below 10 GeV$\textit{/c}$, both B and are found to be less suppressed than either inclusive charged hadrons or D mesons, with the $\textit{R}$ value consistent with unity. The $\textit{R}$ values found for the B and are compared to theoretical calculations, providing constraints on the mechanism of bottom quark energy loss and hadronization in the quark-gluon plasma, the hot and dense matter created in ultrarelativistic heavy ion collisions.