# Nuclear correlations and modifications of the nucleon-nucleon potential due to the QCD critical mode

## TL;DR

This paper investigates how the proximity to the QCD critical point influences nucleon-nucleon interactions and clustering in nuclear matter, using a dynamical model to identify potential experimental signals.

## Contribution

It introduces a dynamic simulation approach to study nucleon correlations near the QCD critical point, going beyond mean-field approximations.

## Key findings

- Enhanced nucleon clustering near the critical point
- Increased higher-order cumulants of proton distributions
- Long-range attraction influences cluster formation

## Abstract

The scalar-isoscalar mode of QCD becomes lighter/nearly massless close to the chiral transition/second-order critical point. From nuclear physics we know that this mode is the main responsible for the attractive part of the nucleon-nucleon potential at inter-particle distances of 1-2 fm. Therefore one expects that close to the critical point there is a long-range strong attraction among nucleons. Using a Walecka-Serot model for the NN potential we study the effects of the critical point in a finite system of nucleons and mesons by solving classical Molecular Dynamics+Langevin equations for the freeze-out conditions of heavy-ion collisions. Going beyond the mean-field approximation allows us to account for strong nucleon correlations in the time evolution, leading to baryon clustering. We observe that light cluster formation, together with an enhancement of higher-order cumulants of the proton distribution can signal the presence of the critical point.