Cross section for b(b)over-bar production via dielectrons in d plus Au collisions at root s(NN)=200 GeV

Abstract

We report a measurement of e(+)e(-) pairs from semileptonic heavy-flavor decays in d + Au collisions at root s(NN) = 200 GeV. By exploring the mass and transverse-momentum dependence of the yield, the bottom decay contribution can be isolated from charm, and quantified by comparison to PYTHIA and MC@NLO simulations. The resulting b (b) over bar -production cross section is sigma(dAu)(b (b) over bar) = 1.37 +/- 0.28 (stat) +/- 0.46 (syst) mb, which is equivalent to a nucleon-nucleon cross section of sigma(NN)(b (b) over bar) = 3.4 +/- 0.8 (stat) +/- 1.1 ( syst) mu b.