Single electrons from heavy-flavor decays in p+p collisions at √s=200 GeV

Abstract

The invariant differential cross section for inclusive electron production in p+p collisions at √s=200 GeV has been measured by the PHENIX experiment at the BNL Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider over the transverse momentum range 0.4≤p_T≤5.0 GeV/c in the central rapidity region (|η|≤0.35). The contribution to the inclusive electron spectrum from semileptonic decays of hadrons carrying heavy flavor, i.e., charm quarks or, at high p_T, bottom quarks, is determined via three independent methods. The resulting electron spectrum from heavy-flavor decays is compared to recent leading and next-to-leading order perturbative QCD calculations. The total cross section of charm quark-antiquark pair production is determined to be σ_cc-=0.92±0.15(stat)± 0.54(syst) mb.