Speaker
Description
Exploring the location of the critical end point (CEP) in the Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) phase diagram is an important scientific problem that has remained unsolved for decades. Recent studies suggest that the CEP may exist within the QCD matter produced in the beam energy scan project of heavy ion collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}} = 3-7.7$ GeV. First-principle Lattice QCD calculations are hindered by the well-known sign problem at such high baryon chemical potential. We have developed a quasi-particle model for hot and dense QCD matter, where three artificial neural networks are constructed to represent the masses of quasi-particles as functions of temperature $T$ and baryon chemical potential $\mu_B$. This model is calibrated using data from lattice QCD and hadron resonance gas at zero $\mu_B$. The equations of state derived from our quasi-particle model are in good agreement with Lattice QCD results at small $\mu_B$, using Taylor expansion. Moreover, through susceptibility analysis, the quasi-particle model predicts that the CEP is approximately located at $(\mu_B, T) = (630, 116)$ MeV.
