Work

Eigen-microstate signatures of criticality in relativistic heavy-ion collisions

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: We develop the eigen-microstate framework as a new approach to identify criticality in relativistic heavy-ion collisions. We construct the original microstate, defined as the final-state particle fluctuations of a single event. By examining ensembles of such original microstates with and without critical signals, we demonstrate that the corresponding eigen microstate can extract and reveal the dominant critical mode, with the largest eigenvalue serving as a robust order parameter. This framework avoids equilibrium assumptions and is insensitive to non-critical background, and the approach is directly applicable to RHIC Beam Energy Scan data, offering a powerful new tool in the search for the QCD critical point.

Source: Physics Letters B

DOI: 10.1016/j.physletb.2026.140458