Transverse momentum dependence of D-meson production in Pb–Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}$ = 2.76 TeV

The production of prompt charmed mesons D$^0$, D$^+$ and D$^{*+}$, and their antiparticles, was measured with the ALICE detector in Pb–Pb collisions at the centre-of-mass energy per nucleon pair, $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}$ of 2.76 TeV. The production yields for rapidity $|y| < 0.5$ are presented as a function of transverse momentum, $p_{\rm T}$, in the interval 1–36 GeV/$c$ for the centrality class 0–10\% and in the interval 1–16 GeV/$c$ for the centrality class 30–50\%. The nuclear modification factor $R_{\rm AA}$ was computed using a proton–proton reference at $\sqrt{s}=2.76$ TeV, based on measurements at $\sqrt{s}=7$ TeV and on theoretical calculations. A maximum suppression by a factor of 5–6 with respect to binary-scaled pp yields is observed for the most central collisions at $p_{\rm T}$ of about 10 GeV/$c$. A suppression of a factor of about 2–3 persists at the highest $p_{\rm T}$ covered by the measurements. At low $p_{\rm T}$ (1–3 GeV/$c$), the $R_{\rm AA}$ has large uncertainties that span the range 0.35 (factor of about 3 suppression) to 1 (no suppression). In all $p_{\rm T}$ intervals, the $R_{\rm AA}$ is larger in the 30–50% centrality class compared to central collisions. The D-meson $R_{\rm AA}$ is also compared with that of charged pions and, at large $p_{\rm T}$, charged hadrons, and with model calculations.