Detecting a First-Order Transition in the QCD Phase Diagram with Baryon-Baryon Correlations

Abstract

We suggest baryon-baryon correlations as an experimentally accessible signature for a first-order phase transition between a baryon-rich phase, like quarkyonic, and a baryon-suppressed hadronic phase in the QCD phase diagram. We examine the consequences of baryon-rich bubble formation in an expanding medium and show how the two-particle correlations vary in the transverse and longitudinal direction depending on the strength of the radial flow, the bubble temperature, and the time when the baryons are emitted.