Search for the QCD Critical Point with Fluctuations of Conserved Quantities in Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collisions at RHIC : An Overview

doi:10.1007/s41365-017-0257-0

Nuclear Science and Techniques ›› 2017, Vol. 28 ›› Issue (8): 112 doi: 10.1007/s41365-017-0257-0 arXiv: 1701.02105

• Invited Review Article • Previous Articles Next Articles

Search for the QCD Critical Point with Fluctuations of Conserved Quantities in Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collisions at RHIC : An Overview

Xiao-Feng Luo^1,2, Nu Xu^1,3

¹ Institute of Particle Physics and Key Laboratory of Quark and Lepton Physics (MOE), Central China Normal University, Wuhan 430079, China

² Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA

³ Nuclear Science Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA

Received:2017-01-09 Revised:2017-03-14 Accepted:2017-03-23
Supported by:
Supported in part by the MoST of China 973-Project (No. 2015CB856901), and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 11575069),

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Xiao-Feng Luo, Nu Xu. Search for the QCD Critical Point with Fluctuations of Conserved Quantities in Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collisions at RHIC : An Overview.Nuclear Science and Techniques, 2017, 28(8): 112 doi: 10.1007/s41365-017-0257-0

Abstract

Abstract:

Fluctuations of conserved quantities, such as baryon, electric charge, and strangeness number, are sensitive observables in relativistic heavy-ion collisions to probe the QCD phase transition and search for the QCD critical point. In this paper, we review the experimental measurements of the cumulants (up to fourth order) of event-byevent net-proton (proxy for net-baryon), net-charge and netkaon (proxy for net-strangeness) multiplicity distributions in Au+Au collisions at SQRT(S_NN) 7.7, 11.5, 14.5, 19.6, 27, 39, 62.4, 200 GeV from the first phase of beam energy scan program at the relativistic heavy-ion collider (RHIC). We also summarize the data analysis methods of suppressing the volume fluctuations, auto-correlations, and the unified description of efficiency correction and error estimation. Based on theoretical and model calculations, we will discuss the characteristic signatures of critical point as well as backgrounds for the fluctuation observables in heavy-ion collisions. The physics implications and the future second phase of the beam energy scan (2019–2020) at RHIC will also be discussed.

Key words: QCD critical point, Fluctuations and correlations, Relativistic heavy-ion collisions, Conserved charges

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Search for the QCD Critical Point with Fluctuations of Conserved Quantities in Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collisions at RHIC : An Overview

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