Particle Production at the SPS and the QCD Phase Diagram

TL;DR

This paper reviews particle production results at CERN-SPS energies, exploring the QCD phase diagram through system size and energy dependence studies, net-baryon distributions, strangeness production, and critical point searches.

Contribution

It provides a systematic analysis of particle production data, applying the core-corona model and discussing potential signals of the QCD critical point.

Findings

System size influences particle production observables.

Core-corona model explains system size dependence.

No definitive critical point signals observed yet.

Abstract

Recent results of particle production in the energy regime of the CERN-SPS are reviewed. In order to collect information on the properties of the QCD phase diagram systematic studies of the system size and the energy dependence of particle production in heavy ion collisions have been performed. Net-baryon distributions and results on strangeness production are discussed. The system size dependence of many observables can be understood in the core-corona approach, which has implications on the possibility to use system size as a control parameter to study different areas of the phase diagram. Recent attempts to search for a critical point, such as multiplicity fluctuations and the transverse mass dependence of anti-baryon/baryon ratios are reviewed.