Prompt production of D mesons with ALICE at the LHC

This is a brief summary of prompt production of D mesons in pp and Pb-Pb collisions with the ALICE apparatus at the LHC.

Heavy-quark azimuthal momentum correlations as a sensitive probe of thermalization

In high-energy nuclear collisions the degree of thermalization at the partonic level is a key issue. Due to their large mass, heavy quarks and their possible participation in the collective flow of the QCD-medium constitute a powerful probe for thermalization. We present studies with PYTHIA for p+p collisions at the top LHC energy of $sqrt{s}$ = 14 TeV applying the two-particle transverse momentum correlator $<Delta p_{t,1}, Delta p_{t,2}>$ to pairs of heavy-quark hadrons and their semi-leptonic decay products as a function of their relative azimuth. Modifications or even the complete absence of initially existing correlations in Pb+Pb collisions might indicate thermalization at the partonic level.

Heavy--quark momentum correlations as a sensitive probe of thermalization

In high-energy nuclear collisions the degree of thermalization at the partonic level is a key issue. Due to their large mass, heavy-quarks and their participation in the collective flow of the QCD medium constitute a powerful tool to probe thermalization. We propose measuring azimuthal correlations of heavy-quark hadrons and products from their semi-leptonic decay. Modifications or even the complete absence of initially, e.g. in p-p collisions, existing azimuthal correlations in Pb-Pb collisions might indicate thermalization at the partonic level. We present studies with PYTHIA for p-p collisions at the top LHC energy using the two-particle transverse momentum correlator ${<overline{Delta}p_{t,1}overline{Delta}p_{t,2}>}$ as a sensitive measure of azimuthal correlations.

$Doverline{D}$ momentum correlations versus relative azimuth as a sensitive probe for thermalization

In high-energy nuclear collisions at LHC, where a QGP might be created, the degree of thermalization at the partonic level is a key issue. Due to their large mass, heavy quarks are a powerful tool to probe thermalization. We propose to measure azimuthal correlations of heavy-quark hadrons and their decay products. Changes or even the complete absence of these initially existing azimuthal correlations in $Pb-Pb$ collisions might indicate thermalization at the partonic level. We present studies with PYTHIA for $p-p$ collisions at 14 TeV using the two-particle transverse momentum correlator ${<overline{Delta}p_{t,1}overline{Delta}p_{t,2}>}$ as a sensitive measure of potential changes in these azimuthal correlations. Contributions from transverse radial flow are estimated.

Bulk Properties of QCD-matter at Highest Collider Energies

The Large Hadron Collider at CERN will provide Pb-Pb collisions at energies up to $sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 5.5 TeV. We speculate on global observables, i.e. the charged particle density at mid-rapidity, chemical freeze-out conditions and collective parameters for transverse radial an elliptic flow. Finally, we present an idea how to address the important issue of thermalization by measuring the correlated production of heavy-quark hadrons.