Refining holographic models of the quark-gluon plasma

TL;DR

This paper uses holographic models to study the quark-gluon plasma at nonzero density, fitting model parameters to lattice QCD data and predicting a critical point near   in the phase diagram, with results aligning with experimental observations.

Contribution

It introduces two holographic QCD models fitted to lattice data to predict the phase diagram and critical point of the quark-gluon plasma at finite density.

Findings

Models predict a critical point near   in the phase diagram.

Predictions agree with lattice QCD data for susceptibilities.

Results match experimental net-proton cumulant data.

Abstract

We investigate quark-gluon plasma at nonzero density by using two holographic models for QCD based on either brane or Einstein-Maxwell-dilaton actions. We determine the parameters of these models through a systematic statistical fitting procedure to lattice QCD data, which encompasses the equation of state (through the entropy density) and the two lowest baryon number susceptibilities. The predictions from the two models for the higher-order susceptibilities and the equation of state at nonzero density are strikingly similar. In particular, both models suggest the presence of a critical point on the $(\mu_B,T)$-phase diagram near $\mu_B/T \approx 6$. The results for the equation of state are in agreement with lattice data for higher-order susceptibilities and experimental data for the cumulants of the net-proton number from the Beam Energy Scan program at the Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collider.