| Abstract: | Observations from collisions of heavy-ion at relativistic energies have
established the formation of a new phase of matter, Quark Gluon Plasma (QGP), a
deconfined state of quarks and gluons in a specific region of the temperature
versus baryonic chemical potential phase diagram of strong interactions. A
program to study the features of the phase diagram, such as a possible critical
point, by varying the collision energy ($sqrt{s_{
m NN}}$), is performed at
the Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collider (RHIC) facility. Non-monotonic variation
with $sqrt{s_{
m NN}}$ of moments of the net-baryon number distribution,
related to the correlation length and the susceptibilities of the system, is
suggested as a signature for a critical point. We report the first evidence of
a non-monotonic variation in kurtosis $ imes$ variance of the net-proton
number (proxy for net-baryon number) distribution as a function of
$sqrt{s_{
m NN}}$ with 3.0$sigma$ significance, for head-on (central)
gold-on-gold (Au+Au) collisions measured using the STAR detector at RHIC.
Non-central Au+Au collisions and models of heavy-ion collisions without a
critical point show a monotonic variation as a function of $sqrt{s_{
m NN}}$. |
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