2018/12/04 by Plumberg, Christopher J., Welle, Thomas, Kapusta, Joseph I.
#FOS: Physical sciences #Nuclear Theory (nucl-th)
paper · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1812.01684
We present a phenomenological parametrization of the phase diagram of QCD as a function of temperature T and baryochemical potential μ. The parametrization is constructed by introducing a switching function which controls the nature of the transition between the Hadron-Resonance Gas (HRG) and Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP) phases of nuclear matter, such that the equation of state (EOS) possesses a rapid crossover at large T and small μ, a critical point placed anywhere along the phase transition line, and a first-order transition at small T and large μ. This EOS offers a convenient phenomenological tool for assessing the possible effects of the conjectured QCD critical point on heavy-ion observables.