  We report a new measurement of the production of electrons from open
heavy-flavor hadron decays (HFEs) at mid-rapidity ($|y|<$ 0.7) in Au+Au
collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}=200$ GeV. Invariant yields of HFEs are
measured for the transverse momentum range of $3.5 < p_{\rm T} < 9$ GeV/$c$ in
various configurations of the collision geometry. The HFE yields in head-on
Au+Au collisions are suppressed by approximately a factor of 2 compared to that
in $p$+$p$ collisions scaled by the average number of binary collisions,
indicating strong interactions between heavy quarks and the hot and dense
medium created in heavy-ion collisions. Comparison of these results with models
provides additional tests of theoretical calculations of heavy quark energy
loss in the quark-gluon plasma.

Nuclear Experiment