Indications for a Critical End Point in the Phase Diagram for Hot and Dense Nuclear Matter

2014/11/30 by R. Lacey, Roy A. Lacey · 7 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Condensed matter physics #Critical exponent #Critical phenomena #Critical point (mathematics) #Deconfinement #Excitation #Geometry #High-Energy Particle Collisions Research #Ising model #Mathematical physics #Nuclear matter #Nuclear physics #Nuclear physics research studies #Nucleon #Phase (matter) #Phase diagram #Phase transition #Physics #Pion #Quantum Chromodynamics and Particle Interactions #Quantum mechanics #Renormalization group #Scaling #nucl-ex #nucl-th

paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.114.142301

published as Phys. Rev. Lett. 114, 142301 (2015) · 5 pages, 4 figures, submitted for publication

arxiv created 2014/12/07 · openalex publication_date 2015/04/06 · arxiv updated 2015/04/16 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05

Abstract

Excitation functions for the Gaussian emission source radii difference (R_out²-R_side²) obtained from two-pion interferometry measurements in Au+Au (sqrt[s_NN]=7.7-200 GeV) and Pb+Pb (sqrt[s_NN]=2.76 TeV) collisions are studied for a broad range of collision centralities. The observed nonmonotonic excitation functions validate the finite-size scaling patterns expected for the deconfinement phase transition and the critical end point (CEP), in the temperature versus baryon chemical potential (T,μ_B) plane of the nuclear matter phase diagram. A finite-size scaling (FSS) analysis of these data suggests a second order phase transition with the estimates T^cep∼165 MeV and μ_B^cep∼95 MeV for the location of the critical end point. The critical exponents (ν≈0.66 and γ≈1.2) extracted via the same FSS analysis place this CEP in the 3D Ising model universality class.

Citations

• Critical exponents from seven-loop strong-couplingφ4theory in three dimensions
• Hydrostatic Equilibrium of Hypothetical Quark Stars
• Critical point of QCD at finite T and , lattice results for physical quark masses

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