Enhancement of η meson constrained by charm cross section measurement in Au+Au Collisions at 200 GeV Original Research Article

Charm quark is believed as a unique tool to probe the hot dense matter created in heavy ion collisions. The scaling behavior with number of binary collisions of charm cross section was observed by STAR experiment in d+Au, Cu+Cu and Au+Au collisions at 200 GeV. The current measurement of charm cross section relies on the non-photonic electrons and low transverse momentum(pT) muons from charm semileptonic decay. It is crucial to understand the contribution of the background such as muon from η decay. The simulation result shows a linear dependence of yields between η and its daughter muon at low pT, which allows us to study the eta enhancement via the measurement of muon yield. The theory of Chiral Symmetry predicts the enhancement of η meson production in Au+Au collisions. Assuming there is no enhancement of η yield in p+p or d+Au collisions, the binary scaling of measured charm cross-section constrains the enhancement factor of η production in Au+Au collisions at 200 GeV.