QCD Phase Diagram at small Baryon Densities from Imaginary mu: Status Report

TL;DR

This paper reviews recent findings on the QCD phase diagram at small baryon densities using imaginary chemical potential, highlighting the sensitivity of the critical endpoint to quark mass and discussing extensions to realistic quark flavors.

Contribution

It provides new insights into the dependence of the QCD critical endpoint on quark mass and outlines strategies for studying the physical N_f=2+1 theory.

Findings

Critical endpoint mu_c varies strongly with quark mass

Fine-tuning quark masses may be necessary to observe the endpoint experimentally

Initial data suggest feasible extension to physical quark flavor configurations

Abstract

We summarize our recent results for the (T,mu)-phase diagram of N_f=3 QCD. Finding a strong variation of the critical endpoint mu_c with the quark mass m, we point out that an endpoint within reach of experiment requires fine-tuned quark masses. We further discuss the strategy and first data towards extending our results to the physical N_f=2+1 theory.