Open Heavy Flavor Production at Forward Angles in PHENIX

The measurement of the nuclear modification factor (image) for heavy-flavor production in heavy-ion collisions tests predictions for cold- and hot-nuclear-matter effects. Heavy-flavor production in image collisions tests pQCD calculations and serves as a reference for understanding heavy-flavor production in heavy-ion collisions. Using the PHENIX muon-arm spectrometers, the transverse momentum spectra of inclusive muon candidates are measured for image and Cu + Cu collisions at image. After subtracting backgrounds, we obtain the measured invariant yields of negative muons from the decay of heavy flavor mesons. For image collisions, we measure the charm-production cross section integrated over image and in the rapidity range image to be image (syst) mb. This result is compared to a recent FONLL calculation and to a PHENIX measurement at mid-rapidity. For Cu + Cu collisions, we measure the image for heavy-flavor muons in three centrality bins for image, with suppression observed for central collisions. We compare our measurement for central collisions to a recent theoretical prediction.