# Baryon number fluctuations in the QCD phase diagram from Dyson-Schwinger equations

## TL;DR

This paper investigates baryon number fluctuations in QCD at finite temperature and chemical potential using Dyson-Schwinger equations, providing insights into the critical endpoint and comparing with experimental data.

## Contribution

It applies Dyson-Schwinger equations to compute baryon fluctuations in QCD, exploring their behavior near the critical endpoint and comparing with STAR experimental results.

## Key findings

- Fluctuations increase near the critical endpoint.
- Results are compatible with a critical endpoint at high chemical potential.
- Skewness and kurtosis ratios align with experimental data.

## Abstract

We present results for fluctuations of the baryon number for QCD at nonzero temperature and chemical potential. These are extracted from solutions to a coupled set of truncated Dyson-Schwinger equations for the quark and gluon propagators of Landau-gauge QCD with $N_f = 2 + 1$ quark flavors, that has been studied previously. We discuss the changes of fluctuations and ratios thereof up to fourth order for several temperatures and baryon chemical potential up to and beyond the critical endpoint. In the context of preliminary STAR data for the skewness and kurtosis ratios, the results are compatible with the scenario of a critical endpoint at large chemical potential and slightly offset from the freeze-out line. We also discuss the caveats involved in this comparison.