$\phi$ Meson As a Probe of QCD Equation of State

TL;DR

This paper uses $$ meson production data from nuclear collisions at various energies to investigate the QCD Equation of State, suggesting a first order phase transition with a mixed phase.

Contribution

It introduces a method to extract the QCD EoS from experimental $$ meson data and compares it with thermodynamic and lattice predictions.

Findings

Indicates a first order phase transition in QCD.

Identifies a mixed phase with specific energy density range.

Provides experimental support for the QCD phase transition model.

Abstract

In this work, we extract the QCD Equation of State (EoS) using experimental results of the $\phi$ meson produced in nuclear collisions at AGS, SPS and RHIC energies. The data are confronted to simple thermodynamic expectations and lattice results. The experimental data indicate a first order phase transition, with a mixed phase stretching energy density between $\sim$ 1 and 3.2 GeV/$fm^3$.