Terence J Tarnowsky | Searcharxiv

arXiv2011

Recent Results of Fluctuation and Correlation Studies from the QCD Critical Point Search at RHIC

Enhanced fluctuations and correlations have been observed in the phase transitions of many systems. Their appearance at the predicted QCD phase transition (especially near the expected critical point) may provide insight into the nature of the phase transition. Recent results from the QCD Critical Point Search at RHIC will be presented, with a focus on particle ratio ($K/π$, $p/π$, and $K/p$) fluctuations and their comparison to previous measurements and theoretical predictions.

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arXiv2011

Searching for the QCD Critical Point Using Particle Ratio Fluctuations and Higher Moments of Multiplicity Distributions

Dynamical fluctuations in global conserved quantities such as baryon number, strangeness, or charge may be observed near a QCD critical point. Results from new measurements of dynamical $K/π$, $p/π$, and $K/p$ ratio fluctuations are presented. The commencing of a QCD critical point search at RHIC has extended the reach of possible measurements of dynamical $K/π$, $p/π$, and $K/p$ ratio fluctuations from Au+Au collisions to lower energies. The STAR experiment has performed a comprehensive study of the energy dependence of these dynamical fluctuations in Au+Au collisions at the energies $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 7.7, 11.5, 39, 62.4, and 200 GeV. New results are compared to previous measurements and to theoretical predictions from several models. The measured dynamical $K/π$ fluctuations are found to be independent of collision energy, while dynamical $p/π$ and $K/p$ fluctuations have a negative value that increases toward zero at top RHIC energy. Fluctuations of the higher moments of conserved quantities (net-proton and net-charge) distributions, which are predicted to be sensitive to the presence of a critical point, are also presented.

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arXiv2011

A Study of the QCD Critical Point Using Particle Ratio Fluctuations

Dynamical fluctuations in global conserved quantities such as baryon number, strangeness, or charge may be observed near a QCD critical point. Results from new measurements of dynamical $K/π$ and $p/π$ ratio fluctuations are presented. The commencing of a QCD critical point search at RHIC has extended the reach of possible measurements of dynamical $K/π$ and $p/π$ ratio fluctuations from Au+Au collisions to lower energies. The STAR experiment has performed a comprehensive study of the energy dependence of these dynamical fluctuations in Au+Au collisions at the energies $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 7.7, 11.5, and 39 GeV. New results are compared to previous measurements and to theoretical predictions from several models.

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arXiv2010

Study of Dynamical $K/π$ and $p/π$ Fluctuations in $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 22.4 GeV Cu+Cu Collisions from the STAR Experiment

Results from the measurement of dynamical $K/π$ and $p/π$ ratio fluctuations are presented. Dynamical fluctuations in global conserved quantities such as baryon number, strangeness, or charge may be observed near a QCD critical point. The first measurement of results of $K/π$ and $p/π$ fluctuations from Cu+Cu collisions at an energy $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 22.4 GeV are shown. This energy range is close to the top SPS energy and has garnered additional interest due to the proposed QCD critical point search at RHIC. The new Cu+Cu data is compared to previous results from Au+Au collisions at the energies $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 19.6, 62.4, 130, and 200 GeV, and to measurements from the NA49 experiment. The dynamical $K/π$ fluctuation results from Cu+Cu at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 22.4 GeV are in good agreement with previous measurements from the STAR and NA49 experiments near that energy. Results are compared to theoretical predictions from several models including the HIJING and UrQMD models.

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arXiv2010

Recent Results of Fluctuation and Correlation Studies from the STAR Experiment

Enhanced fluctuations and correlations have been observed in the phase transitions of many systems. Their appearance at the predicted QCD phase transition (especially near the expected critical point) may provide insight into the nature of the phase transition. Recent results from the STAR experiment will be presented with a focus on particle ratio (K/$π$ and p/$π$) fluctuations, forward-backward multiplicity correlations, and balance functions. Also discussed will be possibilities for measuring these correlations and fluctuations in the recently initiated beam energy scan at RHIC.

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