2 00 7 A new contribution to the nuclear modification factor of non - photonic electrons in Au + Au collisions at √ s NN = 200 GeV

We investigate the effect of the so-called anomalous baryon/meson enhancement to the nuclear modification factor of non-photonic electrons in Au+Au collisions at √ sNN = 200 GeV. It is demonstrated that an enhancement of the charm baryon/meson ratio, as it is observed for non-strange and strange hadrons, can be responsible for part of the amplitude of the nuclear modification factor of non-photonic electrons. About half of the measured suppression of non-photonic electrons in the 2 − 4 GeV/c pt range can be explained by a charm baryon/meson enhancement of 5. This contribution to the nonphotonic electron nuclear modification factor has nothing to do with heavy quark energy loss. [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]