Net baryon-number fluctuations in magnetized quark matter

TL;DR

This paper investigates how strong magnetic fields influence net baryon-number fluctuations and critical end points in magnetized quark matter, revealing magnetic field-induced CEPs and complex fluctuation behaviors relevant for heavy-ion collision experiments.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed analysis of baryon-number fluctuations near critical end points in magnetized quark matter, highlighting magnetic field effects and the emergence of additional CEPs due to Landau quantization.

Findings

Magnetic fields can induce new CEPs in quark matter.

Fluctuation ratios like χ⁴_B/χ²_B show pronounced peaks near CEPs.

The speed of sound reveals complex structures related to phase transitions.

Abstract

The kurtosis and skewness of net baryon-number fluctuations are studied for the magnetized phase diagram of three-flavor quark matter within the Polyakov extended Nambu$-$Jona-Lasinio model. Two models with magnetic catalysis and inverse magnetic catalysis are considered. Special attention is given to their behavior in the neighborhood of the light and strange critical end points (CEPs). Several isentropic trajectories that come close the CEPs are studied in order to analyze possible signatures of a CEP in the presence of external magnetic fields. The effect of the magnetic field on the velocity of sound, $v_s^2$, when both the light and strange CEPs are approached from the crossover region is also investigated by calculating their temperature and baryon chemical potential dependencies at fixed distances from these CEPs. Regions with large fluctuations but no CEP in nonmagnetized matter develop a CEP under the action of a strong magnetic field. Besides, the Landau quantization of the quark trajectories may result in the appearance of extra CEPs, in particular, in the strange sector for strong magnetic fields, identifiable by the net baryon-number fluctuations. Stiffer (smoother) fluctuations in the region of the CEP are characteristic of models that do not predict (do predict) the inverse magnetic catalysis at zero chemical potential. Particularly interesting is the ratio $\chi^4_B/\chi^2_B$ that has a more pronounced peak structure, indicating that it is eventually a more convenient probe for the search of a CEP. The speed of sound shows a much richer structure in magnetized quark matter and allows one to identify both chiral and deconfinement transitions.