Eur. Phys. J. A (2016) 52: 239
https://doi.org/10.1140/epja/i2016-16239-2

Regular Article - Theoretical Physics

Spinodal amplification and baryon number fluctuations in nuclear collisions at NICA

¹ Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies, Ruth-Moufang-Straße 1, D-60438, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
² Nuclear Science Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 94720, Berkeley, California, USA

^* e-mail: steinheimer@th.physik.uni-frankfurt.de

Received: 29 September 2015
Accepted: 29 December 2015
Published online: 22 August 2016

Abstract

We discuss the effect of spinodal instabilities on the fluctuations of conserved flavors in nuclear collisions at NICA. We find that, when the system undergoes a phase transformation, baryon number clumping due to the mechanical instabilities in the spinodal phase occurs. This dynamical clumping enhances the cumulants of the net baryon number residing in a finite test volume of the total collision system.