Quantum baryon number fluctuations in subsystems of a hot and dense relativistic gas of fermions

TL;DR

This paper investigates quantum baryon number fluctuations in small subsystems of a hot, dense fermionic gas, revealing significant increases and divergences at small scales, with implications for interpreting heavy-ion collision data.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of quantum effects on baryon number fluctuations in small systems, extending understanding beyond classical statistical physics.

Findings

Fluctuations increase significantly in small systems.

Fluctuations diverge as system size approaches zero.

Numerical results relevant for heavy-ion collision experiments.

Abstract

Quantum features of the baryon number fluctuations in subsystems of a hot and dense relativistic gas of fermions are analyzed. We find that the fluctuations in small systems are significantly increased compared to their values known from the statistical physics, and diverge in the limit where the system size goes to zero. The numerical results obtained for a broad range of the thermodynamic parameters expected in heavy-ion collisions are presented. They can be helpful to interpret and shed new light on the experimental data.