Related papers: QCD phase diagram and locating critical point usin…
High-energy collisions of heavy ions provide a means to study QCD in a regime of high parton density, and may provide insight into its phase structure. Results from the four experiments at RHIC (BRAHMS, PHENIX, PHOBOS and STAR) are…
In the recent years we have learned that light quarks play a crucial role in QCD-like theories, transforming it to many different phases. We review what is known about them, both from lattice and non-lattice approaches. A particularly…
A general procedure for studying finite-N effects in quantum phase transitions of finite systems is presented and applied to the critical-point dynamics of nuclei undergoing a shape-phase transition of second-order (continuous), and of…
The status of RHIC theory and phenomenology is reviewed with an emphasis on the indications for the creation of a new deconfined state of matter. The critical role of high energy nuclear physics in the development of theoretical tools that…
The goal of heavy ion reactions at low beam energies is to explore the QCD phase diagram at high net baryon chemical potential. To relate experimental observations with a first order phase transition or a critical endpoint, dynamical…
This contribution presents a brief summary of the recent past efforts to experimentally explore the QCD phase diagram at high baryon chemical potentials through heavy-ion collisions. A few measurements are highlighted to present the current…
I review some numerical ways to determine the parameters of systems close to a first order phase transition point: energy and specific heat of the coexisting phases and interface tension. Numerical examples are given for the 2-d $q$ states…
Whether Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) exhibits a phase transition at finite temperature and density is an open question. It is important for hydrodynamic modeling of heavy ion collisions and neutron star mergers. Lattice QCD simulations have…
There is significant interest in RHIC heavy ion collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=$5--50 GeV, motivated by a search for the QCD phase transition critical point. The lowest energies for this search are well below the nominal RHIC gold injection…
At a critical point of a second order phase transition the intrinsic energy surface is flat and there is no stable minimum value of the deformation. However, for a finite system, we show that there is an effective deformation which can…
In heavy-ion collisions, fluctuations of conserved charges are known to be sensitive observables to probe criticality for the QCD phase transition and to locate the position of the putative critical end point (CEP). In this work we seek to…
Phase transitions are emergent phenomena where microscopic interactions drive a disordered system into a collectively ordered phase. Near the boundary between two phases, the system can exhibit critical, scale-invariant behavior. Here, we…
The Solenoidal Tracker at RHIC (STAR) experiment utilizes its excellent mid-rapidity tracking and particle identification capabilities to study the emergent properties of Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD). The STAR heavy-ion program at…
We discuss the phase diagram of QCD in the presence of a strong background magnetic field, providing numerical evidence, based on lattice simulations of QCD with $2+1$ flavours and physical quark masses, that the QCD crossover turns into a…
We show that critical opalescence, a clear signature of second-order phase transition in conventional matter, manifests itself as critical intermittency in QCD matter produced in experiments with nuclei. This behaviour is revealed in…
The dynamics at the critical-point of a general first-order quantum phase transition in a finite system is examined, from an algebraic perspective. Suitable Hamiltonians are constructed whose spectra exhibit coexistence of states…
In recent years there has been much progress on the investigation of the QCD phase diagram with lattice QCD simulations. In this review I focus on the developments in the last two years. Especially the addition of external influences or new…
Heavy-ion collisions at relativistic energies probe matter at extreme conditions of temperatures and energy densities. The study of event-by-event fluctuations of experimental observables is crucial to probe the QCD phase transition, locate…
We report on recent progress concerning theoretical description of event-by-event fluctuations in heavy-ion collisions. Specifically we discuss a new Cooper-Frye particlization routine -- the subensemble sampler -- which is designed to…
The low-temperature properties and crossover phenomena of $d$-dimensional transverse Ising-like systems within the influence domain of the quantum critical point are investigated solving the appropriate one-loop renormalization group…