Abstract
The presence of a critical point in the QCD phase diagram can deform the trajectories describing the evolution of the expanding fireball in the phase diagram. If the average emission time of hadrons is a function of transverse velocity, as microscopic simulations of the hadronic freeze-out dynamics suggest, the deformation of the hydrodynamic trajectories will change the transverse velocity () dependence of the proton-antiproton ratio when the fireball passes in the vicinity of the critical point. An unusual dependence of the ratio in a narrow beam energy window would thus signal the presence of the critical point.
- Received 18 March 2008
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.101.122302
©2008 American Physical Society