Probing QCD critical fluctuations from the yield ratio of strange hadrons in relativistic heavy-ion collisions
By analyzing the available data on strange hadrons in central Pb+Pb collisions from the NA49 Collaboration at the Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS) and in central Au+Au collisions from the STAR Collaboration at the Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collider (RHIC) in a wide collision energy range from sNN=6.3 GeV...
Main Authors: | , , , |
---|---|
Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Elsevier
2020-02-01
|
Series: | Physics Letters B |
Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0370269319308998 |
id |
doaj-0956f9400dec4decb8be53dff34cbe97 |
---|---|
record_format |
Article |
spelling |
doaj-0956f9400dec4decb8be53dff34cbe972020-11-25T02:18:04ZengElsevierPhysics Letters B0370-26932020-02-01801Probing QCD critical fluctuations from the yield ratio of strange hadrons in relativistic heavy-ion collisionsTianhao Shao0Jinhui Chen1Che Ming Ko2Kai-Jia Sun3Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics, Chinese Academy of Science, Shanghai 201800, China; University of Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing 100049, ChinaKey Laboratory of Nuclear Physics and Ion-beam Application (MOE), Institute of Modern Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China; Corresponding authors.Cyclotron Institute and Department of Physics and Astronomy, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, USA; Corresponding authors.Cyclotron Institute and Department of Physics and Astronomy, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, USA; Corresponding authors.By analyzing the available data on strange hadrons in central Pb+Pb collisions from the NA49 Collaboration at the Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS) and in central Au+Au collisions from the STAR Collaboration at the Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collider (RHIC) in a wide collision energy range from sNN=6.3 GeV to 200 GeV, we find a possible non-monotonic behavior in the ratio OK-Ξ-ϕ-Λ=N(K+)N(Ξ−)N(ϕ)N(Λ) of K+, Ξ−, ϕ, and Λ yields as a function of sNN. Based on the quark coalescence model, which can take into account the effect of quark density fluctuations on hadron production, a possible non-monotonic behavior in the dependence of the strange quark density fluctuation on sNN is obtained. This is in contrast to the coalescence model that does not include quark density fluctuations and also to the statistical hadronization model as both fail to describe even qualitatively the collision energy dependence of the ratio OK-Ξ-ϕ-Λ. Our findings thus suggest that the signal and location of a possible critical endpoint in the QCD phase diagram, which is expected to result in large quark density fluctuations, can be found in the on-going Bean Energy Scan program at RHIC.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0370269319308998 |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Tianhao Shao Jinhui Chen Che Ming Ko Kai-Jia Sun |
spellingShingle |
Tianhao Shao Jinhui Chen Che Ming Ko Kai-Jia Sun Probing QCD critical fluctuations from the yield ratio of strange hadrons in relativistic heavy-ion collisions Physics Letters B |
author_facet |
Tianhao Shao Jinhui Chen Che Ming Ko Kai-Jia Sun |
author_sort |
Tianhao Shao |
title |
Probing QCD critical fluctuations from the yield ratio of strange hadrons in relativistic heavy-ion collisions |
title_short |
Probing QCD critical fluctuations from the yield ratio of strange hadrons in relativistic heavy-ion collisions |
title_full |
Probing QCD critical fluctuations from the yield ratio of strange hadrons in relativistic heavy-ion collisions |
title_fullStr |
Probing QCD critical fluctuations from the yield ratio of strange hadrons in relativistic heavy-ion collisions |
title_full_unstemmed |
Probing QCD critical fluctuations from the yield ratio of strange hadrons in relativistic heavy-ion collisions |
title_sort |
probing qcd critical fluctuations from the yield ratio of strange hadrons in relativistic heavy-ion collisions |
publisher |
Elsevier |
series |
Physics Letters B |
issn |
0370-2693 |
publishDate |
2020-02-01 |
description |
By analyzing the available data on strange hadrons in central Pb+Pb collisions from the NA49 Collaboration at the Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS) and in central Au+Au collisions from the STAR Collaboration at the Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collider (RHIC) in a wide collision energy range from sNN=6.3 GeV to 200 GeV, we find a possible non-monotonic behavior in the ratio OK-Ξ-ϕ-Λ=N(K+)N(Ξ−)N(ϕ)N(Λ) of K+, Ξ−, ϕ, and Λ yields as a function of sNN. Based on the quark coalescence model, which can take into account the effect of quark density fluctuations on hadron production, a possible non-monotonic behavior in the dependence of the strange quark density fluctuation on sNN is obtained. This is in contrast to the coalescence model that does not include quark density fluctuations and also to the statistical hadronization model as both fail to describe even qualitatively the collision energy dependence of the ratio OK-Ξ-ϕ-Λ. Our findings thus suggest that the signal and location of a possible critical endpoint in the QCD phase diagram, which is expected to result in large quark density fluctuations, can be found in the on-going Bean Energy Scan program at RHIC. |
url |
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0370269319308998 |
work_keys_str_mv |
AT tianhaoshao probingqcdcriticalfluctuationsfromtheyieldratioofstrangehadronsinrelativisticheavyioncollisions AT jinhuichen probingqcdcriticalfluctuationsfromtheyieldratioofstrangehadronsinrelativisticheavyioncollisions AT chemingko probingqcdcriticalfluctuationsfromtheyieldratioofstrangehadronsinrelativisticheavyioncollisions AT kaijiasun probingqcdcriticalfluctuationsfromtheyieldratioofstrangehadronsinrelativisticheavyioncollisions |
_version_ |
1724883545041666048 |