The QCD critical point hunt: emergent new ideas and new dynamics

Abstract

The QCD critical point is a landmark point on the QCD phase diagram, with potential connections to a plethora of deep questions on the properties of thermal nuclear matter. Future heavy-ion collision experiments, in particular, the second phase of beam energy scan (BES-II), will explore the QCD phase diagram with an unprecedented precision and would potentially discover the QCD critical point. In this short review, I discuss and summarize recent new ideas, such as `rapidity scan', and new theoretical developments, in particular in the qualitative characterization and quantitative descriptions of the critical fluctuations in the expanding fireball. Those new ideas and developments together would enhance the prospect of locating the QCD critical point.

14 pages, 2 figures, comments are welcome

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Cited by in corpus (10)

• The QCD phase structure at finite temperature and density
• QCD phase structure from functional methods
• Chiral phase structure and critical end point in QCD
• Fluctuation dynamics near the QCD critical point
• Shocks and quark-meson scatterings at large density
• Vector and Axial-Vector Mesons in Nuclear Matter
• Charting the scaling region of the Ising universality class in two and three dimensions
• Characteristic momentum of Hydro+ and a bound on the speed of sound near the QCD critical point
• Mass-dependence of pseudocritical temperature in mean field approximation
• Examination of background effects on light-nuclei yield ratio in relativistic heavy-ion collisions