Fluctuations and Transverse Momentum Distributions in the Color Clustering Approach

TL;DR

This paper investigates how color source clustering affects transverse momentum and multiplicity fluctuations in high-energy collisions, identifying a critical point for color deconfinement and comparing results with experimental data.

Contribution

It introduces a framework linking color clustering transitions to observable fluctuations and distributions, providing predictions for RHIC and LHC energies.

Findings

Identification of a critical point for color deconfinement.

Non-monotonic fluctuations with participant number.

Agreement with RHIC data and predictions for LHC.

Abstract

We present our results on transverse momentum fluctuations, multiplicity fluctuations and transverse momentum distributions for baryons and mesons in the framework of the clustering of color sources. We determine under what conditions the initial state configurations can lead to color connection, and more specifically, if variations of the initial state can lead to a transition from disconnected to connected color clusters, modifying the number of effective sources. We find that beyond a critical point, one has a condensate, containing interacting and hence color-connected sources. This point thus specifies the onset of color deconfinement. We show that the transverse momentum and multiplicity distributions are related to each other in a defined way. We obtain a non-monotonic dependence of the $p_T$ and multiplicity fluctuations with the number of participants. We present our results for the fluctuations and the transverse momentum distributions at RHIC energies compared to the existing experimental data and our predictions for LHC energies.