Production of muons from heavy-flavour hadron decays in p-Pb collisions at $\mathbf{\sqrt{{\textit s}_{NN}} = 5.02}$ TeV

The production of muons from heavy-flavour hadron decays in p–Pb collisions at sNN=5.02 TeV was studied for 2<pT<16 GeV/ c with the ALICE detector at the CERN LHC. The measurement was performed at forward (p-going direction) and backward (Pb-going direction) rapidity, in the ranges of rapidity in the centre-of-mass system (cms) 2.03<ycms<3.53 and −4.46<ycms<−2.96 , respectively. The production cross sections and nuclear modification factors are presented as a function of transverse momentum ( pT ). At forward rapidity, the nuclear modification factor is compatible with unity while at backward rapidity, in the interval 2.5<pT<3.5 GeV/ c , it is above unity by more than 2 σ . The ratio of the forward-to-backward production cross sections is also measured in the overlapping interval 2.96<|ycms|<3.53 and is smaller than unity by 3.7 σ in 2.5<pT