Simulation study reveals underestimated neutral D-meson yields in heavy-ion collisions without quark-gluon plasma, suggesting enhanced charm production in experimental nuclear interactions.
The total yield of neutral D-mesons (4 π ) in central Xe + La interactions at 150 GeV per nucleon has been calculated within the Geant4 FTF model. Our results are consistent with predictions from other models based on Monte Carlo method that do not include quark-gluon plasma formation. Like those predictions, our calculation significantly underestimates the preliminary experimental data reported by the NA61/SHINE collaboration. The experimental data suggest enhanced production of charmed particles in nucleus-nucleus collisions. We also present calculations for charmed meson production in $$p + p$$ , $$d + d$$ , and ^4He + \,\,⁴He interactions for the future NICA/SPD experiment at √ s_NN = 10 and 20 GeV.
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Galoyan et al. (2026) studied this question.