QCD predictions for charm and bottom quark production at RHIC

Phys Rev Lett. 2005 Sep 16;95(12):122001. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.95.122001. Epub 2005 Sep 12.

Abstract

We make up-to-date QCD predictions for open charm and bottom production at RHIC in nucleon-nucleon collisions at square root of S=200 GeV. We also calculate the electron spectrum resulting from heavy flavor decays to allow direct comparison to the data. A rigorous benchmark, including the theoretical uncertainties, is established against which nuclear collision data can be compared to obtain evidence for nuclear effects.