Measurement of D0, D+, D*+ and Ds+production in Pb-Pb collisions at √sNN=5.02 TeV

We report measurements of the production of prompt D0, D+, D*+ and Ds+mesons in Pb–Pb collisions at the centre-of-mass energy per nucleon-nucleon pair sNN=5.02$$ \sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}}=5.02 $$TeV, in the centrality classes 0–10%, 30–50% and 60–80%. The D-meson production yields are measured at mid-rapidity (|y| <0.5) as a function of transverse momentum (pT). The pT intervals covered in central collisions are: 1 <pT<50 GeV/c for D0, 2 <pT<50GeV/c for D+, 3 <pT<50GeV/c for D*+, and 4 <pT<16GeV/c for Ds+mesons. The nuclear modification factors (RAA) for non-strange D mesons (D0, D+, D*+) show minimum values of about 0.2 for pT = 6–10 GeV/c in the most central collisions and are compatible within uncertainties with those measured at sNN=2.76$$ {\sqrt{s}}_{\mathrm{NN}}=2.76 $$TeV. For Ds+mesons, the values of RAA are larger than those of non-strange D mesons, but compatible within uncertainties. In central collisions the average RAA of non-strange D mesons is compatible with that of charged particles for pT> 8 GeV/c, while it is larger at lower pT. The nuclear modification factors for strange and non-strange D mesons are also compared to theoretical models with different implementations of in-medium energy loss.