Inclusive b-jet production in heavy ion collisions at the LHC

Abstract: Theoretical and experimental advances in understanding light jet production and modification in Pb+Pb reactions at a center-of-mass energy 2.76 TeV have been a highlight of the LHC heavy ion program. At the same time, the detailed mechanisms of heavy quark energy loss in dense QCD matter are not yet fully understood. With this motivation, we present theoretical predictions for the nuclear-induced attenuation of the differential cross sections for inclusive b-jet production in heavy ion collisions at the LHC for comparison to upcoming data. We find that for transverse momenta pT > 75 GeV both hadronization and mass effects are negligible and this attenuation is comparable to the one observed for light jets. We discuss how the detailed b-jet quenching patterns can be used to gain new insight into the in-medium heavy flavor dynamics.