Decoding the phase structure of QCD via particle production at high energy

TL;DR

This paper explores how particle production data from high-energy nuclear collisions can reveal the phase transition in Quantum Chromodynamics from confined hadronic matter to a quark-gluon plasma, confirming quark-hadron duality.

Contribution

It demonstrates that analyzing particle abundances within the statistical hadronization framework can decode the QCD phase structure and identify the phase boundary.

Findings

Evidence of phase transition from hadronic matter to quark-gluon plasma.

Confirmation of quark-hadron duality at high temperatures.

Experimental delineation of the QCD phase boundary.

Abstract

Recent studies based on non-perturbative lattice Monte-Carlo solutions of Quantum Chromodynamics, the theory of strong interactions, demonstrated that at high temperature there is a phase change from confined hadronic matter to a deconfined quark-gluon plasma where quarks and gluons can travel distances largely exceeding the size of hadrons. The phase structure of such strongly interacting matter can be decoded via analysis of particle abundances in high energy nuclear collisions within the framework of the statistical hadronization approach. The results imply quark-hadron duality at and experimental delineation of the location of the phase boundary of strongly interacting matter.