System-size scan of D meson R AA and v n using PbPb, XeXe, ArAr, and OO collisions at energies available at the CERN Large Hadron Collider
Here, experimental measurements indicate no suppression (e.g. R pPb ~ 1) but a surprisingly large D meson v 2 was measured in pPb collisions. In order to understand these results we use Trento+v-USPhydro+DAB-MOD to make predictions and propose a system size scan at the LHC involving 208 PbPb, 129 XeXe, 40 ArAr, and 16OO collisions. We find that the nuclear modification factor approaches unity as the system size is decreased, but nonetheless, in the 0–10% most central collisions v 2 {2} is roughly equivalent regardless of system size. These results arise from a rather non-trivial interplay between the shrinking path length and the enhancement of eccentricities in small systems at high multiplicity. Finally, we also find a surprising sensitivity of D mesons v 2 {2} in 0–10% at p T = 2–10 GeV to the slight deformation of 129 Xe recently found at LHC.