Measurements of Proton High-Order Cumulants in sNN =3 GeV Au+Au Collisions and Implications for the QCD Critical Point

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.128.202303

Measurements of Proton High-Order Cumulants in sNN =3 GeV Au+Au Collisions and Implications for the QCD Critical Point

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Abstract

We report cumulants of the proton multiplicity distribution from dedicated fixed-target Au+Au collisions at sNN=3.0 GeV, measured by the STAR experiment in the kinematic acceptance of rapidity (y) and transverse momentum (pT) within -0.5<y<0 and 0.4<pT<2.0 GeV/c. In the most central 0%-5% collisions, a proton cumulant ratio is measured to be C4/C2=-0.85±0.09 (stat)±0.82 (syst), which is 2σ below the Poisson baseline with respect to both the statistical and systematic uncertainties. The hadronic transport UrQMD model reproduces our C4/C2 in the measured acceptance. Compared to higher energy results and the transport model calculations, the suppression in C4/C2 is consistent with fluctuations driven by baryon number conservation and indicates an energy regime dominated by hadronic interactions. These data imply that the QCD critical region, if created in heavy-ion collisions, could only exist at energies higher than 3 GeV.

Original language	English
Article number	202303
Journal	Physical Review Letters
Volume	128
Issue number	20
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.128.202303
State	Published - May 20 2022

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 American Physical Society.

Funding

We thank Dr. V. Koch, Dr. A. Sorensen, and Dr. V. Vovchenko for interesting discussions. We thank the RHIC Operations Group and RCF at BNL, the NERSC Center at LBNL, and the Open Science Grid consortium for providing resources and support. This work was supported in part by the Office of Nuclear Physics within the U.S. DOE Office of Science, the U.S. National Science Foundation, National Natural Science Foundation of China, Chinese Academy of Science, the Ministry of Science and Technology of China and the Chinese Ministry of Education, the Higher Education Sprout Project by Ministry of Education at NCKU, the National Research Foundation of Korea, Czech Science Foundation and Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic, Hungarian National Research, Development and Innovation Office, New National Excellency Programme of the Hungarian Ministry of Human Capacities, Department of Atomic Energy and Department of Science and Technology of the Government of India, the National Science Centre of Poland, the Ministry of Science, Education and Sports of the Republic of Croatia and German Bundesministerium f\u00FCr Bildung, Wissenschaft, Forschung and Technologie (BMBF), Helmholtz Association, Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology (MEXT), and Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS).

Funders	Funder number
Hungarian Ministry of Human Capacities
National Research Foundation of Korea
Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association
Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China
Narodowe Centrum Nauki
Grantová Agentura České Republiky
U.S. Department of Energy Chinese Academy of Sciences Guangzhou Municipal Science and Technology Project Oak Ridge National Laboratory Extreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment National Science Foundation National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center National Natural Science Foundation of China
Ministry of Science, Education and Sports of the Republic of Croatia and German Bundesministerium für Bildung, Wissenschaft, Forschung and Technologie
Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung
Nemzeti Kutatási Fejlesztési és Innovációs Hivatal
Ministry of Education at NCKU
Ministry of Science and Technology of the People's Republic of China
Department of Atomic Energy and Department of Science and Technology
Chinese Academy of Sciences
National Science Foundation Office of International Science and Engineering
Horia Hulubei National Institute for Physics and Nuclear Engineering
Ministerstvo Školství, Mládeže a Tělovýchovy
Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology
National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC)
Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Fund for the Promotion of Joint International Research	19H05598
Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Fund for the Promotion of Joint International Research

ASJC Scopus subject areas

General Physics and Astronomy

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10.1103/PhysRevLett.128.202303

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title = "Measurements of Proton High-Order Cumulants in sNN =3 GeV Au+Au Collisions and Implications for the QCD Critical Point",

abstract = "We report cumulants of the proton multiplicity distribution from dedicated fixed-target Au+Au collisions at sNN=3.0 GeV, measured by the STAR experiment in the kinematic acceptance of rapidity (y) and transverse momentum (pT) within -0.5",

author = "Abdallah, \{M. S.\} and Aboona, \{B. E.\} and J. Adam and L. Adamczyk and Adams, \{J. R.\} and Adkins, \{J. K.\} and G. Agakishiev and I. Aggarwal and Aggarwal, \{M. M.\} and Z. Ahammed and I. Alekseev and Anderson, \{D. M.\} and A. Aparin and Aschenauer, \{E. C.\} and Ashraf, \{M. U.\} and Atetalla, \{F. G.\} and A. Attri and Averichev, \{G. S.\} and V. Bairathi and W. Baker and \{Ball Cap\}, \{J. G.\} and K. Barish and A. Behera and R. Bellwied and P. Bhagat and A. Bhasin and J. Bielcik and J. Bielcikova and Bordyuzhin, \{I. G.\} and Brandenburg, \{J. D.\} and Brandin, \{A. V.\} and I. Bunzarov and Cai, \{X. Z.\} and H. Caines and \{Calder{\'o}n De La Barca S{\'a}nchez\}, M. and D. Cebra and I. Chakaberia and P. Chaloupka and Chan, \{B. K.\} and Chang, \{F. H.\} and Z. Chang and N. Chankova-Bunzarova and A. Chatterjee and S. Chattopadhyay and D. Chen and J. Chen and Chen, \{J. H.\} and X. Chen and Z. Chen and R. Fatemi",

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AU - Adam, J.

AU - Adamczyk, L.

AU - Adams, J. R.

AU - Adkins, J. K.

AU - Agakishiev, G.

AU - Aggarwal, I.

AU - Aggarwal, M. M.

AU - Ahammed, Z.

AU - Alekseev, I.

AU - Anderson, D. M.

AU - Aparin, A.

AU - Aschenauer, E. C.

AU - Ashraf, M. U.

AU - Atetalla, F. G.

AU - Attri, A.

AU - Averichev, G. S.

AU - Bairathi, V.

AU - Baker, W.

AU - Ball Cap, J. G.

AU - Barish, K.

AU - Behera, A.

AU - Bellwied, R.

AU - Bhagat, P.

AU - Bhasin, A.

AU - Bielcik, J.

AU - Bielcikova, J.

AU - Bordyuzhin, I. G.

AU - Brandenburg, J. D.

AU - Brandin, A. V.

AU - Bunzarov, I.

AU - Cai, X. Z.

AU - Caines, H.

AU - Calderón De La Barca Sánchez, M.

AU - Cebra, D.

AU - Chakaberia, I.

AU - Chaloupka, P.

AU - Chan, B. K.

AU - Chang, F. H.

AU - Chang, Z.

AU - Chankova-Bunzarova, N.

AU - Chatterjee, A.

AU - Chattopadhyay, S.

AU - Chen, D.

AU - Chen, J.

AU - Chen, J. H.

AU - Chen, X.

AU - Chen, Z.

AU - Fatemi, R.

PY - 2022/5/20

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Measurements of Proton High-Order Cumulants in sNN =3 GeV Au+Au Collisions and Implications for the QCD Critical Point

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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