A Study of the QCD Critical Point Using Particle Ratio Fluctuations

Abstract

Dynamical fluctuations in global conserved quantities such as baryon number, strangeness, or charge may be observed near a QCD critical point. Results from new measurements of dynamical $K/\pi$ and $p/\pi$ ratio fluctuations are presented. The commencing of a QCD critical point search at RHIC has extended the reach of possible measurements of dynamical $K/\pi$ and $p/\pi$ ratio fluctuations from Au+Au collisions to lower energies. The STAR experiment has performed a comprehensive study of the energy dependence of these dynamical fluctuations in Au+Au collisions at the energies $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 7.7, 11.5, and 39 GeV. New results are compared to previous measurements and to theoretical predictions from several models.

6 pages, 4 figures, Proceedings of the 27th Winter Workshop on Nuclear Dynamics (WWND 2011), Winter Park, CO, February 6-13, 2011

References in corpus (4)

• An Experimental Exploration of the QCD Phase Diagram: The Search for the Critical Point and the Onset of De-confinement
• K/pi Fluctuations at Relativistic Energies
• Hadronic Fluctuations and Correlations
• Event-by-Event Fluctuations