Higher-order ratios of baryon number cumulants

TL;DR

This paper investigates higher-order ratios of baryon number cumulants as sensitive probes of QCD phase transition and freeze-out conditions in heavy-ion collisions, using model calculations of quark-number susceptibilities.

Contribution

It introduces calculations of high-order cumulant ratios in QCD-like models to explore their sign structure near the chiral crossover.

Findings

Higher order cumulant ratios show characteristic sign patterns near the crossover.

Sign structure of cumulants can serve as indicators of the QCD phase transition.

Model results suggest potential experimental signatures in heavy-ion collision data.

Abstract

The relevance of higher order cumulants of net baryon number fluctuations for the analysis of freeze-out and critical conditions in heavy-ion collisions at LHC and RHIC is addressed. The sign structure of the higher order cumulants in the vicinity of the chiral crossover temperature might be a sensitive probe and may allow to elucidate their relation to the QCD phase transition. We calculate ratios of generalized quark-number susceptibilities to high orders in three flavor QCD-like models and investigate their sign structure close to the chiral crossover line.