First Observation of the Directed Flow of D 0 and D 0 ¯ in Au + Au Collisions at s N N = 200 GeV
We report the first measurement of rapidity-odd directed flow ($v_{1}$) for $D^{0}$ and $\overline{D^{0}}$ mesons at midrapidity (|y|<0.8) in Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$=200 GeV using the STAR detector at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. In 10-80% Au+Au collisions, the slope of the $v_{1}$ rapidity dependence ($dv_{1}/dy$), averaged over $D^{0}$ and $\overline{D^{0}}$ mesons, is -0.080 ± 0.017(stat) ± 0.016(syst) for transverse momentum $p_{T}$ above 1.5 GeV/c. The absolute value of $D^{0}$ meson $dv_{1}/dy$ is about 25 times larger than that for charged kaons, with 3.4σ significance. These data give a unique insight into the initial tilt of the produced matter, and offer constraints on the geometric and transport parameters of the hot QCD medium created in relativistic heavy-ion collisions.