Quark number susceptibilities at finite chemical potential from fugacity expansion

Abstract

Generalized quark number susceptibilities are expected to be good probes for the phase transitions in QCD and the search of a possible critical point. However, their computation in lattice QCD is plagued by the complex action problem which appears at finite chemical potential mu. In this work we explore the possibilities of an expansion in the fugacity parameter exp(mu beta) which has features that make, in particular quark number related bulk observables easily accessible. We present results at finite chemical potential for generalized susceptibilities up to the 4th order as well as their ratios and compare them to model calculations.