ESTIMATES OF DILEPTON SPECTRA FROM OPEN CHARM AND BOTTOM DECAYS IN RELATIVISTIC HEAVY-ION COLLISIONS

The spectra of lepton pairs from correlated open charm and bottom deca ys in ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions are calculated. Our appro ach includes energy loss effects of heavy quarks in deconfined matter which are determined by temperature and density of the expanding parto n medium. We find a noticeable suppression of the initial transverse m omentum spectrum of heavy quarks due to the energy loss at LHC conditi ons. Within the central rapidity covered by the ALICE detector system, the dominant contribution from bottom decays to the high invariant ma ss dielectron spectrum is predicted. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V.