Detecting a First-Order Transition in the QCD Phase Diagram with Baryon-Baryon Correlations

TL;DR

This paper proposes using baryon-baryon correlations as an experimental signature to detect a first-order phase transition in the QCD phase diagram, analyzing how these correlations vary with different physical parameters.

Contribution

It introduces baryon-baryon correlations as a novel observable for identifying a first-order phase transition in QCD, considering bubble formation effects in an expanding medium.

Findings

Baryon-baryon correlations vary with radial flow, temperature, and emission time.

Correlations can distinguish between different phases in the QCD phase diagram.

The method provides a new experimental approach to study QCD phase transitions.

Abstract

We suggest baryon-baryon correlations as an experimentally accessible signature for a first-order phase transition between a baryon-rich phase, like quarkyonic, and a baryon-suppressed hadronic phase in the QCD phase diagram. We examine the consequences of baryon-rich bubble formation in an expanding medium and show how the two-particle correlations vary in the transverse and longitudinal direction depending on the strength of the radial flow, the bubble temperature, and the time when the baryons are emitted.