Phenomena at the QCD phase transition in nonequilibrium chiral fluid dynamics (N$\chi$FD)

TL;DR

This paper discusses the development of a dynamical model for the QCD first-order phase transition in heavy-ion collisions, aiming to identify signals of the transition and the critical point in experimental data.

Contribution

It introduces a nonequilibrium chiral fluid dynamics model to study dynamical effects at the QCD first-order phase transition.

Findings

Potential signals of the first-order phase transition identified

Model provides insights into the QCD critical point

Enhances understanding of phase transition dynamics in heavy-ion collisions

Abstract

Heavy-ion collisions performed in the beam energy range accessible by the NICA collider facility are expected to produce systems of extreme net-baryon densities and can thus reach yet unexplored regions of the QCD phase diagram. Here, one expects the phase transition between the plasma of deconfined quarks and gluons and the hadronic matter to be of first order. A discovery of the first-order phase transition would as well prove the existence of the QCD critical point, a landmark in the phase diagram. In order to understand possible signals of the first-order phase transition in heavy-ion collision experiments it is very important to develop dynamical models of the phase transition. Here, we discuss the opportunities of studying dynamical effects at the QCD first-order phase transition within our model of nonequilibrium chiral fluid dynamics.