Eur. Phys. J. C (2016) 76: 107
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-015-3819-5

Review

Heavy-flavour and quarkonium production in the LHC era: from proton–proton to heavy-ion collisions

¹ Research Division, ExtreMe Matter Institute (EMMI), GSI Helmholzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung, Darmstadt, Germany
² Laboratoire Leprince-Ringuet, Ecole Polytechnique, CNRS/IN2P3, Université Paris–Saclay, Palaiseau, France
³ Laboratoire d’Annecy-le-Vieux de Physique Théorique (LAPTh), Université de Savoie, CNRS, Annecy-le-Vieux, France
⁴ Sezione di Torino, INFN, Turin, Italy
⁵ European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), Geneva, Switzerland
⁶ IPNO, Univ. Paris-Sud, CNRS/IN2P3, Université Paris–Saclay, 91406, Orsay Cedex, France
⁷ Faculty of Nuclear Sciences and Physical Engineering, Czech Technical University in Prague, Prague, Czech Republic
⁸ Excellence Cluster Universe, Technische Universität München, Munich, Germany
⁹ Sezione di Padova, INFN, Padua, Italy
¹⁰ Institute of Physics Belgrade, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia
¹¹ Departamento de Física de Partículas, IGFAE, Universidad de Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain
¹² Institute of Physics, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
¹³ SUBATECH, Ecole des Mines de Nantes, Université de Nantes, CNRS-IN2P3, Nantes, France
¹⁴ Department of Applied Physics, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing, China
¹⁵ FIAS, Institute for Theoretical Physics, Frankfurt, Germany
¹⁶ Department of Physics, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
¹⁷ Department of High Energy Physics, Saint-Petersburg State University, Ulyanovskaya 1, Saint Petersburg, Russia
¹⁸ Departamento de Física, Centro Científico-Tecnológico de Valparaíso, Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María, Valparaiso, Chile
¹⁹ INFN, Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati, Frascati, Italy
²⁰ LAL, Univ. Paris-Sud, CNRS/IN2P3, Université Paris–Saclay, Orsay, France
²¹ Faculty of Science, Institute for Subatomic Physics, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
²² National Institute for Subatomic Physics, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
²³ Department of Physics, Duke University, Durham, USA
²⁴ Department of Physics and Technology, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
²⁵ Laboratoire de Physique Corpusculaire (LPC), Université Clermont Auvergne, Université Blaise Pascal, CNRS/IN2P3, Clermont-Ferrand, France
²⁶ IRFU/SPhN, CEA Saclay, 91191, Gif-sur-Yvette Cedex, France
²⁷ Department of Physics and Astronomy, Cyclotron Institute, Texas A&M University, College Station, USA
²⁸ Iowa State University, Ames, USA
²⁹ Fakultät für Physik, Universität Bielefeld, Bielefeld, Germany
³⁰ Physikalisches Institut, Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
³¹ Laboratoire de Physique Subatomique et de Cosmologie, Université Grenoble-Alpes, CNRS/IN2P3, Grenoble, France
³² Department of Theoretical Physics, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, India
³³ Department of Physics, Kent State University, Kent, USA
³⁴ IPN-Lyon, Université de Lyon, Université Lyon 1, CNRS/IN2P3, Villeurbanne, France
³⁵ Institut für Theoretische Physik, Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
³⁶ Theoretical Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, USA
³⁷ Physics Division, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, USA
³⁸ Physics Department, University of California, Davis, USA
³⁹ Institute of Physics, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
⁴⁰ Key Laboratory of Quark and Lepton Physics (MOE), Institute of Particle Physics, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, China
⁴¹ Physics Department, Collaborative Innovation Center of Quantum Matter, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China

^* e-mail: laure.marie.massacrier@cern.ch

Received: 15 June 2015
Accepted: 1 December 2015
Published online: 29 February 2016

Abstract

This report reviews the study of open heavy-flavour and quarkonium production in high-energy hadronic collisions, as tools to investigate fundamental aspects of Quantum Chromodynamics, from the proton and nucleus structure at high energy to deconfinement and the properties of the Quark–Gluon Plasma. Emphasis is given to the lessons learnt from LHC Run 1 results, which are reviewed in a global picture with the results from SPS and RHIC at lower energies, as well as to the questions to be addressed in the future. The report covers heavy flavour and quarkonium production in proton–proton, proton–nucleus and nucleus–nucleus collisions. This includes discussion of the effects of hot and cold strongly interacting matter, quarkonium photoproduction in nucleus–nucleus collisions and perspectives on the study of heavy flavour and quarkonium with upgrades of existing experiments and new experiments. The report results from the activity of the SaporeGravis network of the I3 Hadron Physics programme of the European Union 7 Framework Programme.