Measurements of Proton High-Order Cumulants in √s.sub.NN./sub.=3 GeV Au+Au Collisions and Implications for the QCD Critical Point

0559939 - ÚJF 2023 RIV US eng J - Journal Article
Abdallah, M. S. - Aboona, B. E. - Adam, J. - Adamczyk, L. - Bielčík, J. - Bielčíková, Jana - Federič, Pavol - Holub, L. - Chaloupka, P. - Kosarzewski, L. K. - Kramárik, L. - Líčeník, Robert - Ponimatkin, Georgij - Prozorova, V. - Robotková, Monika - Rusňák, Jan - Šimko, Miroslav - Šumbera, Michal - Truhlář, T. - Trzeciak, B. A. - Vaněk, Jan … Total 401 authors
Measurements of Proton High-Order Cumulants in √s_NN=3 GeV Au+Au Collisions and Implications for the QCD Critical Point.
Physical Review Letters. Roč. 128, č. 20 (2022), č. článku 202303. ISSN 0031-9007. E-ISSN 1079-7114
R&D Projects: GA MŠMT LTT18002; GA MŠMT LM2018109
Institutional support: RVO:61389005
Keywords : STAR collaboration * QCD critical point
OECD category: Nuclear physics
Impact factor: 8.6, year: 2022
Method of publishing: Limited access
https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.128.202303

We report cumulants of the proton multiplicity distribution from dedicated fixed-target Au + Au collisions at root s(NN) = 3.0 GeV, measured by the STAR experiment in the kinematic acceptance of rapidity (y) and transverse momentum (p(T)) within -0.5 < y < 0 and 0.4 < p(T) < 2.0 GeV/c. In the most central 0%-5% collisions, a proton cumulant ratio is measured to be C-4/C-2 = -0.85 +/- 0.09 (stat) +/- 0.82 (syst), which is 2 sigma below the Poisson baseline with respect to both the statistical and systematic uncertainties. The hadronic transport UrQMD model reproduces our C-4/C-2 in the measured acceptance. Compared to higher energy results and the transport model calculations, the suppression in C-4/C-2 is consistent with fluctuations driven by baryon number conservation and indicates an energy regime dominated by hadronic interactions. These data imply that the QCD critical region, if created in heavy-ion collisions, could only exist at energies higher than 3 GeV.
Permanent Link: https://hdl.handle.net/11104/0333330