QCD Critical Point and Net-Proton Number Fluctuations at RHIC-STAR

Abstract

In the search of QCD phase boundary and critical point, higher-order cumulants of conserved quantities are proposed as promising observables and have been studied extensively both experimentally and theoretically. In this paper we present cumulant ratios up to $6^{th}$-order of net-proton number distributions in Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{\mathrm{s_{NN}}}$ = 7.7 - 200 GeV from STAR Beam Energy Scan program phase I and $\sqrt{\mathrm{s}}$ = 200 GeV $p+p$ collisions. The results are compared with various models and Lattice QCD calculations.