2022/08/04 by Volodymyr Vovchenko, Vovchenko, Volodymyr, Volker Koch +3
Mathematics · Physics and Astronomy · #FOS: Physical sciences #High Energy Physics - Phenomenology (hep-ph) #High-Energy Particle Collisions Research #Nuclear Theory (nucl-th) #Quantum Chromodynamics and Particle Interactions #Stochastic processes and statistical mechanics
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2208.02571
openalex publication_date 2022/08/04 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
We analyze the behavior of (net-)proton number cumulants in central collisions of heavy ions across a broad collision energy range by utilizing hydrodynamic simulations. The calculations incorporate essential non-critical contributions to proton fluctuations such as repulsive baryonic core and exact baryon number conservation. The experimental data are consistent with non-critical physics at collision energies √s\rm NN ≥ 20 GeV. The data from STAR and HADES Collaborations at lower collision energies indicate an excess of (multi-)proton correlations over the non-critical reference. This observation is discussed in the context of different mechanisms, including the possibility of a critical point in the baryon-rich region of the QCD phase diagram.