Search Results (38)

One of the main goals of the Compressed Baryonic Matter (CBM) experiment at the Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research (FAIR) is to investigate the properties of strongly interacting matter under high baryon densities and explore the QCD phase diagram. Fluctuations of conserved quantities like baryon number, electric charge, and strangeness are key probes for phase transitions and critical behavior, as are connected to thermodynamic susceptibilities predicted by lattice QCD calculations. In this paper, we report on up-to-the-fourth-order cumulants of (net-)proton number distributions in gold–gold ion collisions at the nucleon–nucleon center of mass energies $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 3.5–19.6 GeV using the Parton–Hadron-Quantum-Molecular Dynamics (PHQMD) model. Protons and anti-protons are selected at midrapidity ($\left|y\right|$ < 0.5) within a transverse momentum range 0.4 $<p_T<$ 2.0 GeV/c of STAR experiment and 1.08 $<y<$ 2.08 and 0.4 $<p_T<$ 2.0 GeV/c of CBM acceptances. The results obtained from the PHQMD model are compared with the existing experimental data to undersatand potential signatures of critical behavior and to probe the vicinity of the critical end point in the CBM energy range. The results obtained here with the PHQMD calculations for $\kappa {\sigma }^2$ (the distribution kurtosis times variance squared) are consistent with the overall trend of the measurement results for the most central (0–5% centrality) collisions, although the calculations somewhat overestimate the experimental values. Full article

We investigate the time evolution of the quark condensate toward a chiral symmetry broken phase in hot and dense quark matter using a field-theoretic quark model with nonlocal chiral-invariant four-fermion coupling. By purposely selecting a parameter set in which inhomogeneous phases are energetically disfavored, we nonetheless observe the emergence of metastable patterned configurations that appear to persist for remarkably long timescales. These findings suggest that even when not fully stable, inhomogeneous phases may play a significant role in the dynamics of chiral symmetry breaking and restoration. To gain deeper insight into these phenomena, we also analyze the impact of the dimensionality of coordinate space on both the formation and stability of inhomogeneous chiral condensates. Full article

The investigation of the nuclear matter equation of state (EOS) beyond saturation density has been a fundamental goal of heavy ion collision experiments for more than 40 years. First constraints on the EOS of symmetric nuclear matter at high densities were extracted from heavy ion data measured at AGS and GSI. At GSI, symmetry energy has also been investigated in nuclear collisions. These results of laboratory measurements are complemented by the analysis of recent astrophysical observations regarding the mass and radius of neutron stars and gravitational waves from neutron star merger events. The research programs of upcoming laboratory experiments include the study of the EOS at neutron star core densities and will also shed light on the elementary degrees of freedom of dense QCD matter. The status of the CBM experiment at FAIR and the perspective regarding the studies of the EOS of symmetric and asymmetric dense nuclear matter will be presented. Full article

Inspired by the fact that both the dilaton potential encoding the trace anomalies of QCD and the Polyakov loop potential measuring the deconfinement phase transition can be expressed in the logarithmic forms, as well as the fact that the scale symmetry is expected to be restoring and colors are deconfined in extreme conditions such as high temperatures and/or densities, we conjecture a relation between the dilaton potential and the Polyakov loop potential. Explicitly, we start from the Coleman–Weinberg type potential of a real scalar field—a dilaton or conformal compensator—and make an ansatz of the relation between this scalar field and the Polyakov loop to obtain the Polyakov loop potential, which can be parameterized in Lattice QCD (LQCD) in the pure glue sector. We find that the coefficients of Polyakov potential fitted from Lattice data are automatically satisfied in this ansatz, the locations of deconfinement and scale restoration are locked to each other, and the first-order phase transition can be realized. Extensions to the low-energy effective quark models are also discussed. The conjectured relation may deepen our understanding of the evolution of the universe, the mechanism of electroweak symmetry breaking, the phase diagram of QCD matter, and the properties of neutron stars. Full article

The Beam Energy Scan (BES) program at RHIC aims to explore the QCD phase diagram, including the search for the evidence of the 1st order phase transition from hadronic matter to Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP) and the location of the QCD critical point. One of the features previously observed in the study of QGP is the effect of suppression of particle production with high transverse momenta $p_T$ (>2 GeV/c) at energies $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = $62.4–200$ GeV, which was deduced from the charged-particle nuclear modification factor ($R_{CP}$) measured using the data from Beam Energy Scan Program Phase I (BES-I) of STAR experiment. In 2018, STAR has collected over 500 million events from $Au$+$Au$ collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 27 GeV as a part of the STAR BES-II program, which is about a factor of 10 higher than BES-I 27 GeV data size. In this report, we present new measurements of charged particle production and the nuclear modification factor $R_{CP}$, from this new 27 GeV data set and compare them with the BES-I results. The new measurements extend the previous BES-I results to higher transverse momentum range, which allows better exploration of the jet quenching effects at low RHIC energies, and may help to understand the effects of the formation and properties of QGP at these energies. Full article

Cumulants up to the sixth-order of the net-particle multiplicity distributions were measured at RHIC for the Beam Energy Scan and fixed-target program, from which we obtained some interesting hints on the phase structure of the QCD matter. In this article, we present recent experimental results on (net-)proton cumulants and discuss current interpretations on the QCD critical point and the nature of the phase transition. We will also report recent results for measurements of the bayron-strangeness correlations, which were measured with the newly developed analysis technique to remove the effect from the combinatorial backgrounds for hyperon reconstruction. Full article

This review is devoted to the modern understanding of the two-color QCD phase diagram at finite baryon density and low temperatures. First, we consider the theoretical picture of this phase diagram. It is believed that at low baryon density, two-color QCD can be described by chiral perturbation theory (ChPT), which predicts a second-order phase transition with Bose-Einstein condensation of diquarks at $\mu =m_{\pi }/2$. At larger baryon chemical potentials, the interactions between baryons become important, and ChPT is not applicable anymore. At sufficiently large baryon chemical potential, the Fermi sphere composed of quarks is formed, and diquarks are condensed on the surface of this sphere. In this region, two-color baryon matter reveals properties similar to those of the Quarkyonic phase. Particular attention in this review is paid to lattice studies of dense two-color QCD phase diagram. In the low-density region, the results of lattice studies are in agreement with ChPT predictions. At sufficiently large baryon densities, lattice studies observe a Fermi sphere composed of quarks and condensation of diquarks on its surface. Thus, available lattice studies support most of the theoretical predictions. Finally, we discuss the status of the deconfinement in cold dense two-color matter, which was observed in lattice simulation with staggered fermions. Full article

This review covers several recent developments in the physics of dense QCD with an emphasis on the impact of multiple phase transitions on astrophysical manifestations of compact stars. To motivate the multi-phase modeling of dense QCD and delineate the perspectives, we start with a discussion of the structure of its phase diagram and the arrangement of possible color-superconducting and other phases. It is conjectured that pair-correlated quark matter in $\beta$-equilibrium is within the same universality class as spin-imbalanced cold atoms and the isospin asymmetrical nucleonic matter. This then implies the emergence of phases with broken space symmetries and tri-critical (Lifshitz) points. The beyond-mean-field structure of the quark propagator and its non-trivial implications are discussed in the cases of two- and three-flavor quark matter within the Eliashberg theory, which takes into account the frequency dependence (retardation) of the gap function. We then construct an equation of state (EoS) that extends the two-phase EoS of dense quark matter within the constant speed of sound parameterization by adding a conformal fluid with a speed of sound $c_{\mathrm{conf}.}=1/\sqrt{3}$ at densities $\ge 10n_{\mathrm{sat}}$, where $n_{\mathrm{sat}}$ is the saturation density. With this input, we construct static, spherically symmetrical compact hybrid stars in the mass–radius diagram, recover such features as the twins and triplets, and show that the transition to conformal fluid leads to the spiraling-in of the tracks in this diagram. Stars on the spirals are classically unstable with respect to the radial oscillations but can be stabilized if the conversion timescale between quark and nucleonic phases at their interface is larger than the oscillation period. Finally, we review the impact of a transition from high-temperature gapped to low-temperature gapless two-flavor phase on the thermal evolution of hybrid stars. Full article

In the QCD-like effective model, the Polyakov linear-sigma model, the isospin sigma field (${\overline{\sigma }}_3=f_{K^{\pm }}-f_{K^0}$) and the third generator of the matrix of the explicit symmetry breaking [$h_3=m_{a_0}^2\left(f_{K^{\pm }}-f_{K^0}\right)$] are estimated in terms of the decay constants of the neutral ($f_K^0$) and charged Kaon ($f_{K^{\pm }}$) and the mass of $a_0$ meson. Both quantities ${\overline{\sigma }}_3$ and $h_3$ are then evaluated, at finite baryon (${\mu }_B$), isospin chemical potential (${\mu }_I$), and temperature (T). Thereby, the dependence of the critical temperature on isospin chemical potential could be mapped out in the ($T-{\mu }_I$) phase diagram In the QCD-like effective model, the Polyakov linear-sigma model, the isospin sigma field (${\overline{\sigma }}_3=f_{K^{\pm }}-f_{K^0}$) and the third generator of the matrix of the explicit symmetry breaking [$h_3=m_{a_0}^2\left(f_{K^{\pm }}-f_{K^0}\right)$] are estimated in terms of the decay constants of the neutral ($f_K^0$) and charged Kaon ($f_{K^{\pm }}$) and the mass of $a_0$ meson. Both quantities ${\overline{\sigma }}_3$ and $h_3$ are then evaluated, at finite baryon (${\mu }_B$), isospin chemical potential (${\mu }_I$), and temperature (T). Thereby, the dependence of the critical temperature on isospin chemical potential could be mapped out in the ($T-{\mu }_I$) phase diagram. The in-medium modifications of pseudoscalars ($J^{pc}=0^{-+}$), scalars ($J^{pc}=0^{++}$), vectors ($J^{pc}=1^{--}$), and axial-vectors ($J^{pc}=1^{++}$) meson states are then analyzed in thermal and dense medium. We conclude that the QCD phase diagram ($T-{\mu }_I$) is qualitatively similar to the ($T-{\mu }_B$) phase diagram. We also conclude that both temperature and isospin chemical potential enhance the in-medium modifications of the meson states $a_0$, $\sigma$, ${\eta }^{\prime }$, $\pi$, $f_0$, $\kappa$, $\eta$, K, $\rho$, $\omega$, ${\kappa }^{*}$, $\varphi$, $a_1$, $f_1$, $K^{*}$, and $f_1^{*}$. Regarding their chemical potential, at high temperatures the various meson states likely dissolve into colored partonic phase. In this limit, the meson masses form a universal bundle. Thus, we conclude that the increase in the chemical potential similar to temperature derives the colorless confined meson states into the colored deconfined parton phase. Full article

The interplay of chiral dynamics and gluodynamics plays an essential role in the nonperturbative QCD region, and the chiral phase transition and deconfinement phase transition are the main topics of QCD phase transitions under extreme conditions, e.g., finite temperature and/or baryon density, strong magnetic fields, and fast rotation. We briefly introduce our own recent progress from the theoretical side on QCD phase transitions and phase diagrams under extreme conditions related to the early universe, compact stars, and heavy-ion collisions. Full article

This work deals with the deconfinement phase transition from a hadronic gas (HG) phase consisting of massive pions, to a quark–gluon plasma (QGP) phase consisting of gluons, massless up and down quarks and massive strange quarks, in addition to their antiquarks. Based on the Bag and coexistence models, we study the variations of pressure characterizing both HG and QGP phases. For the latter, we calculate the partition function of the color-singlet QGP within the projection method using a density of states containing the volume term only. We investigate the phase diagram of the strongly interacting matter, in the µ–T plane, in several cases: in the HG phase, we consider massless pions then we account for their masses, and in the QGP phase, first we take it consisting of two massless u and d quarks, then we consider additional massive strange quarks. Full article

Recently, persistent homology analysis has been used to investigate phase structure. In this study, we apply persistent homology analysis to the QCD effective model with heavy quarks at finite imaginary chemical potential; i.e., the Potts model with the suitably tuned external field. Since we try to obtain a deeper understanding of the relationship between persistent homology and phase transition in QCD, we consider the imaginary chemical potential because the clear phase transition, which is closely related to the confinement-deconfinement transition, exists. In the actual analysis, we employ the point-cloud approach to consider persistent homology. In addition, we investigate the fluctuation of persistent diagrams to obtain additional information on the relationship between the spatial topology and the phase transition. Full article

Working in the SU(2) flavor version of the NJL model, we study the effect of taking a finite system volume on a strongly interacting system of quarks, and, in particular, the location of the chiral phase transition and the CEP. We consider two shapes for the volume, spherical and cubic regions with different sizes and different boundary conditions. To analyze the QCD phase diagram, we use a novel criterion to study the crossover zone. A comparison between the results obtained from the two different shapes and several boundary conditions is carried out. We use the method of Multiple Reflection Expansion to determine the density of states and three kinds of boundary conditions over the cubic shape. These boundary conditions are: periodic, anti-periodic and stationary boundary conditions on the quark fields. Full article

The objective of the compressed baryonic matter (CBM) experiment at the future Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research (FAIR) in Darmstadt, Germany, is the investigation of the fundamental properties of strongly interacting matter. Of particular interest for our understanding of compact stellar objects is the determination of the equation-of-state (EOS) at high baryon densities and the exploration of the microscopic degrees-of-freedom under these conditions. The results of these laboratory experiments will complement astronomical observations, which also constrain the high-density EOS. Recent results of QCD-based calculations suggest that a possible first-order chiral phase transition should be observable in heavy-ion collisions at FAIR energies. This article reviews relevant observables from heavy-ion collisions and describes the detector configuration and the physics performance of the CBM experiment. Full article

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. Full article