The QCD Critical Point and Related Observables

Abstract

The search for the critical point of QCD in heavy-ion collision experiments has sparked enormous interest with the completion of phase I of the RHIC beam energy scan. Here, I review the basics of the thermodynamics of the QCD phase transition and its implications for experimental multiplicity fluctuations in heavy-ion collisions. Several sources of noncritical fluctuations impact the observables and need to be understood in addition to the critical phenomena. Recent progress has been made in dynamical modeling of critical fluctuations, which ultimately is indispensable to understand potential signals of the QCD critical point in heavy-ion collision.

Contribution to the Proceedings of Quark Matter 2015, Kobe, Japan

References in corpus (20)

• The order of the quantum chromodynamics transition predicted by the standard model of particle physics
• The equation of state in (2+1)-flavor QCD
• Elliptic and triangular flow in event-by-event (3+1)D viscous hydrodynamics
• The Phase Structure of the Polyakov--Quark-Meson Model
• 200 A GeV Au+Au collisions serve a nearly perfect quark-gluon liquid
• The phase structure of the Polyakov--quark-meson model beyond mean field
• Phase structure of three and four flavor QCD
• Dynamic universality class of the QCD critical point
• The stickiness of sound: An absolute lower limit on viscosity and the breakdown of second order relativistic hydrodynamics
• Propagators and phase structure of Nf=2 and Nf=2+1 QCD
• Strongly Intensive Quantities
• Phase transition dynamics for baryon-dense matter
• Thermal Conductivity and Chiral Critical Point in Heavy Ion Collisions
• Dynamical net-proton fluctuations near a QCD critical point
• Thermally Fluctuating Second-Order Viscous Hydrodynamics and Heavy-Ion Collisions
• Correlated fluctuations near the QCD critical point
• Hydrodynamic fluctuations and the minimum shear viscosity of the dilute Fermi gas at unitarity
• Relativistic fluctuating hydrodynamics with memory functions and colored noises
• Net-baryon number variance and kurtosis within nonequilibrium chiral fluid dynamics
• Multiplicity fluctuations of net protons on the hydrodynamic freeze-out surface

Cited by in corpus (15)

• Collision Energy Dependence of Moments of Net-Kaon Multiplicity Distributions at RHIC
• Baryon number fluctuations at finite temperature and density
• Universal off-equilibrium scaling of critical cumulants in the QCD phase diagram
• Future Physics Perspectives on the Equation of State from Heavy Ion Collisions to Neutron Stars
• Phenomenological Consequences of Enhanced Bulk Viscosity Near the QCD Critical Point
• Impact of resonance decays on critical point signals in net-proton fluctuations
• Critical net-baryon fluctuations in an expanding system
• The QCD critical point hunt: emergent new ideas and new dynamics
• The BEST framework for the search for the QCD critical point and the chiral magnetic effect
• Net-proton number fluctuations in the presence of the QCD critical point
• Hydrodynamic description of the baryon-charged quark-gluon plasma
• Critical exponents and transport properties near the QCD critical endpoint from the statistical bootstrap model
• Finite size effects on cumulants of the critical mode
• Universality regained: Kibble-Zurek dynamics, off-equilibrium scaling and the search for the QCD critical point
• Light Nuclei and Hyper Nuclei Collectivity Measurements at High Baryon Density Region