The effect of charge, isospin, and strangeness in the QCD phase diagram critical end point

TL;DR

This paper investigates how charge, isospin, and strangeness influence the QCD phase diagram's critical end point, especially under conditions relevant to neutron stars, mergers, and heavy-ion collisions.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of the effects of various charge and strangeness conditions on the QCD phase transition and critical end point location.

Findings

Charge and isospin fractions significantly shift the critical end point.

Strangeness content alters the phase transition characteristics.

Conditions relevant to astrophysics and collider experiments impact the phase diagram.

Abstract

In this work, we discuss the deconfinement phase transition to quark matter in hot/dense matter. We {examine} the effect that different charge fractions, isospin fractions, net strangeness, and chemical equilibrium with respect to leptons have on the position of the coexistence line between different phases. In particular, we investigate how different sets of conditions that describe matter in neutron stars and their mergers, or matter created in heavy-ion collisions affect the position of the critical end point, namely where the first-order phase transition becomes a crossover. We also present an introduction to the topic of critical points, including a review of recent {advances} concerning QCD critical points.