Light nuclei production as a probe of the QCD phase diagram

Sun, Kai-Jia; Chen, Lie-Wen; Ko, Che Ming; Pu, Jie; Xu, Zhangbu

doi:10.1016/j.physletb.2018.04.035

Title: Light nuclei production as a probe of the QCD phase diagram

Journal Article · Sat Apr 21 00:00:00 EDT 2018 · Physics Letters. B

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physletb.2018.04.035· OSTI ID:1437871

Sun, Kai-Jia;

; Ko, Che Ming; Pu, Jie; Xu, Zhangbu

It is generally believed that the quark-hadron transition at small values of baryon chemical potentials µ_B is a crossover but changes to a first-order phase transition with an associated critical endpoint (CEP) as µ_B increases. Such a µ_B-dependent quark-hadron transition is expected to result in a double-peak structure in the collision energy dependence of the baryon density fluctuation in heavy-ion collisions with one at lower energy due to the spinodal instability during the first-order phase transition and another at higher energy due to the critical fluctuations in the vicinity of the CEP. By analyzing the data on the p, d and ³H yields in central heavy-ion collisions within the coalescence model for light nuclei production, we find that the relative neutron density fluctuation Δρ_n = $$\langle$$(δρ_n)²$$\rangle$$/$$\langle$$ρn²$$\rangle$$ at kinetic freeze-out indeed displays a clear peak at $$\sqrt{s}$$$$_ {NN}$$ = 8.8 GeV and a possible strong re-enhancement at $$\sqrt{s}$$$$_ {NN}$$ = 4.86 GeV. Thus, our findings provide a strong support for the existence of a first-order phase transition at large µ_B and its critical endpoint at a smaller µ_B in the temperature versus baryon chemical potential plane of the QCD phase diagram.

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Research Organization:: Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Nuclear Physics (NP); National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC); National Basic Research Program of China; Welch Foundation

Grant/Contract Number:: SC0012704; 11625521; 2015CB856904; 11DZ2260700; SC0015266; A-1358

OSTI ID:: 1437871

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1463859

Report Number(s):: BNL-207936-2018-JAAM; S0370269318303198; PII: S0370269318303198

Journal Information:: Physics Letters. B, Journal Name: Physics Letters. B Vol. 781 Journal Issue: C; ISSN 0370-2693

Publisher:: ElsevierCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: Netherlands

Language:: English

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Cited by: 63 works

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