Statistical production of B_c mesons in √s = 5.02 TeV Pb-Pb collisions

Department of Applied Physics, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing 210094, China

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Published online: 17 April 2026

Abstract

The yield of B_c mesons produced in Pb-Pb collisions at √s = 5.02 TeV can be greatly enhanced compared to that produced in pp collisions at the same energy due to the recombination of bottom (b) and charm (c) quarks in the environment of the quark-gluon plasma (QGP). Taking advantage of the high degree of thermalization of the abundant c quarks in the QGP, we calculate the integrated yields of Bc mesons using the statistical hadronization model by treating the B_c meson as a member of the open b-hadron family. The transverse momentum (p_T) spectrum is then computed by resonance recombination using transported c and b quark phase space distributions, supplemented by the component fragmented from b quarks. Both integrated and differential nuclear modification factors obtained show good agreement with pertinent data measured by the CMS experiment within theoretical uncertainties.