{"work":{"id":"8973a406-0a7d-4a18-9b36-d843cb727c2e","openalex_id":null,"doi":null,"arxiv_id":"2504.00817","raw_key":"raw:2fc39867360b1594d0b81a6c","title":"Precision Measurement of (Net-)proton Number Fluctuations in Au+Au Collisions at RHIC","authors":null,"authors_text":"B","year":2025,"venue":"nucl-ex","abstract":"We report precision measurements on cumulants ($C_{n}$) and factorial cumulants ($\\kappa_{n}$) of (net-)proton number distributions up to fourth-order in Au+Au collisions from phase II of the Beam Energy Scan program at RHIC. (Anti-)protons are selected at midrapidity ($|y|<0.5$) within a transverse momentum range of $0.4 < p_T < 2.0$ GeV/$c$. The collision energy and centrality dependence of these cumulants are studied over center-of-mass energies $\\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 7.7 -- 27 GeV. Relative to various non-critical-point model calculations and peripheral collision 70-80\\% data, the net-proton $C_4/C_2$ measurement in 0-5\\% collisions shows a minimum around 19.6 GeV for significance of deviation at $\\sim2$ -- $5\\sigma$. In addition, deviations from non-critical baselines around the same collision energy region are also seen in proton factorial cumulant ratios, especially in $\\kappa_2/\\kappa_1$ and $\\kappa_3/\\kappa_1$. Dynamical model calculations including a critical point are called for in order to understand these precision measurements.","external_url":"https://arxiv.org/abs/2504.00817","cited_by_count":null,"metadata_source":"pith","metadata_fetched_at":"2026-07-09T13:36:19.548205+00:00","pith_arxiv_id":"2504.00817","created_at":"2026-05-15T02:53:33.869419+00:00","updated_at":"2026-07-09T13:36:19.548205+00:00","title_quality_ok":true,"display_title":null,"render_title":"Precision Measurement of (Net-)proton Number Fluctuations in Au+Au Collisions at RHIC"},"hub":{"state":{"tier_text":"hub","tier":"hub","tier_reason":"10+ Pith inbound or 1,000+ external citations","pith_inbound_count":11,"external_cited_by_count":null},"tier":"hub","role_counts":[{"context_role":"background","n":1}],"polarity_counts":[{"context_polarity":"background","n":1}],"runs":{},"summary":{},"graph":{},"authors":[]}}