Density Fluctuations as Signature of a Non--Equilibrium First Order Phase Transition

Abstract

We show that in the presence of spinodal instabilities which develop at a first order phase transition, the fluctuations of conserved charges can be as strong as those at the critical end point (CEP). In particular, the net baryon number susceptibility diverges as the system crosses the isothermal spinodal lines. This indicates that charge density fluctuations can be used not only to probe the CEP but also the non--equilibrium first order chiral phase transition in heavy ion collisions.

4 pageg, 1 figure; to appear in the proceedings of 20th International Conference on Ultra-Relativistic Nucleus-Nucleus Collisions: Quark Matter 2008 (QM2008), Jaipur, India, Feb 4-10, 2008

References in corpus (6)

• Susceptibilities near the QCD (tri)critical point
• Quark Number Fluctuations in a Chiral Model at Finite Baryon Chemical Potential
• Density fluctuations in the presence of spinodal instabilities
• Chiral phase transition in the presence of spinodal decomposition
• The QCD critical end point in the SU(3) Nambu--Jona-Lasinio model
• Hydrodynamical instabilities in an expanding quark gluon plasma