Influence of strangeness on the anisotropic flow of prompt D^±ₛ mesons in PbPb collisions at √sNN = 5.02 TeV

The azimuthal anisotropy of prompt D^±ₛ mesons produced in lead-lead (PbPb) collisions at a nucleon-nucleon center-of-mass energy of 5.02 TeV is measured using data obtained with the CMS detector. The dataset corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 0.58 nb⁻¹. The azimuthal anisotropy of heavy charmed mesons provides a key constraint on the interactions of charm quarks with the quark-gluon plasma (QGP) medium. These interactions include coalescence mechanisms and parton energy loss in the QGP. The anisotropy is quantified by the second- (v₂) and third-order (v₃) Fourier coefficients of the azimuthal distribution of the D^±ₛ mesons. The v₂ coefficient is determined in the transverse momentum range 4 <p_T< 40 GeV for three event centrality classes, while the v₃ coefficient is measured in the range 4 <p_T< 20 GeV for a single event centrality class. The results for the D^±ₛ mesons are compared to those previously measured for D⁰ mesons. The azimuthal anisotropy coefficients for D^±ₛ and D⁰ mesons are found to be consistent within the precision of this measurement, suggesting that the strangeness content of the D^±ₛ meson does not significantly alter its azimuthal distribution within the measured pT range.