Medium-induced modification of azimuthal correlations of electrons from heavy-flavor hadron decays with charged particles in Pb–Pb collisions at √sNN = 5.02 TeV

The azimuthal-correlation distributions between electrons from the decays of heavy-flavor hadrons and associated charged particles in Pb–Pb collisions at √sNN = 5.02 s NN = 5.02 TeV are reported for the 0–10% and 30–50% centrality classes. This measurement provides access to the jet-like correlation observables in the heavy-flavor sector in Pb–Pb collisions. The analysis is performed for trigger electrons from heavy-flavor hadron decays with transverse momentum 4< pTᵉ < 16~GeV/c 4 < p T e < 16 GeV / c , considering associated particles within the transverse-momentum range 1< pTᵃssoc < 7 1 < p T assoc < 7 GeV/c GeV / c , and a pseudorapidity difference of |Δ η |<1 | Δ η | < 1 between the trigger electron and associated particles. The per-trigger nuclear modification factor ( IAA I AA ) is calculated to compare the near- and away-side peak yields to those in pp collisions at √s = 5.02 s = 5.02 TeV. In 0–10% central collisions, the IAA I AA indicates a hint of enhancement of associated-particle yields with pT<3 p T < 3 GeV/ c on the near side, and a suppression of yields with pT>4 p T > 4 GeV/ c on the away side. The IAA I AA for electron triggers from heavy-flavor hadron decays is compared with that for light-flavor and strange-particle triggers to investigate the dependence on different fragmentation processes and parton-medium dynamics, and is found to be the same within uncertainties.