Search for the critical point of strongly interacting matter in NA49

TL;DR

This paper investigates signals of the QCD critical point by analyzing fluctuations and particle ratios in heavy-ion collisions at CERN SPS energies, aiming to identify critical phenomena in strongly interacting matter.

Contribution

It provides experimental data on system size and energy dependence of fluctuations and anti-baryon to baryon ratios relevant to locating the QCD critical point.

Findings

Energy dependence of fluctuations observed

System size effects on fluctuation measures analyzed

Anti-baryon to baryon ratios studied across energies

Abstract

Theoretical calculations locate the QCD critical point at energies accessible at the CERN SPS. Several observables were suggested to look for it. Here, we present the system size dependence and the energy dependence of event-by-event mean transverse momentum and multiplicity fluctuations, as well as the energy dependence of anti-baryon to baryon ratios.