Speaker
Description
The phase diagram of Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) is a fundamental framework for understanding strongly interacting matter under extreme conditions. Heavy-ion collision experiments provide a unique opportunity to study the QCD phase transition between hadronic matter and quark-gluon plasma (QGP) by recreating high-temperature and/or high-baryon-density environments. Investigating this phase diagram can reveal the potential existence of the QCD critical point (CP) and the nature of phase transitions, contributing valuable insights into the strong interaction.
This talk will focus on recent progress in probing the QCD phase diagram, with a particular emphasis on the precision measurement of net-proton number fluctuations from the RHIC Beam Energy Scan Program - Phase II (BES-II). The presentation will also discuss the challenges in interpreting the data and the future opportunities to further our understanding of the QCD phase structure.
