The QCD phase diagram at nonzero baryon, isospin and strangeness chemical potentials: results from a hadron resonance gas model

Abstract

We use a hadron resonance gas model to study the QCD phase diagram at nonzero temperature, baryon, isospin and strangeness chemical potentials. We determine the temperature of the transition from the hadronic phase to the quark–gluon plasma phase using two different methods. We find that the critical temperatures derived in both methods are in very good agreement. We find that the critical surface has a small curvature. We also find that the critical temperature's dependence on the baryon chemical potential at zero isospin chemical potential is almost identical to its dependence on the isospin chemical potential at vanishing baryon chemical potential. This result, which holds when the chemical potentials are small, supports recent lattice simulation studies. Finally, we find that at a given baryon chemical potential, the critical temperature is lowered as either the isospin or the strangeness chemical potential are increased. Therefore, in order to lower the critical temperature, it might be useful to use different isotopes in heavy ion collision experiments.