Measurement of Single Electrons and Implications for Charm Production in Au + Au Collisions at √sNN = 130 GeV

Transverse momentum spectra of electrons from Au+Au collisions at roots(NN) = 130 GeV have been measured at midrapidity by the PHENIX experiment at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. The spectra show an excess above the background from photon conversions and light hadron decays. The electron signal is consistent with that expected from semileptonic decays of charm. The yield of the electron signal dN(e)/dy for p(T) > 0.8 GeV/c is 0.025 +/- 0.004(stat) +/- 0.010( syst) in central collisions, and the corresponding charm cross section is 380 +/- 60(stat) +/- 200(syst ) mub per binary nucleon-nucleon collision.