We report on the measurements of directed flow $v_1$ and elliptic flow $v_2$ for hadrons ($\pi^{\pm}$, $K^{\pm}$, $K_{S}^0$, $p$, $\phi$, $\Lambda$ and $\Xi^{-}$) from Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 3 GeV and $v_{2}$ for ($\pi^{\pm}$, $K^{\pm}$, $p$ and $\overline{p}$) at 27 and 54.4 GeV with the STAR experiment. While at the two higher energy midcentral collisions the number-of-constituent-quark (NCQ) scaling holds, at 3 GeV the $v_{2}$ at midrapidity is negative for all hadrons and the NCQ scaling is absent. In addition, the $v_1$ slopes at midrapidity for almost all observed hadrons are found to be positive, implying dominant repulsive baryonic interactions. The features of negative $v_2$ and positive $v_1$ slope at 3 GeV can be reproduced with a baryonic mean-field in transport model calculations. These results imply that the medium in such collisions is likely characterized by baryonic interactions.
We report cumulants of the proton multiplicity distribution from dedicated fixed-target Au+Au collisions at 3.0 GeV, measured by the STAR experiment in the kinematic acceptance of rapidity ($y$) and transverse momentum ($p_{\rm T}$) within $-0.5 < y<0$ and $0.4 < p_{\rm T} <2.0 $ GeV/$c$. In the most central 0--5% collisions, a proton cumulant ratio is measured to be $C_4/C_2=-0.85 \pm 0.09 ~(\rm stat.) \pm 0.82 ~(\rm syst.)$, which is less than unity, the Poisson baseline. The hadronic transport UrQMD model reproduces our $C_4/C_2$ in the measured acceptance. Compared to higher energy results and the transport model calculations, the suppression in $C_4/C_2$ is consistent with fluctuations driven by baryon number conservation and indicates an energy regime dominated by hadronic interactions. These data imply that the QCD critical region, if created in heavy-ion collisions, could only exist at energies higher than 3 GeV.
We report a measurement of cumulants and correlation functions of event-by-event proton multiplicity distributions from fixed-target Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}$ = 3 GeV measured by the STAR experiment. Protons are identified within the rapidity ($y$) and transverse momentum ($p_{\rm T}$) region $-0.9 < y<0$ and $0.4 < p_{\rm T} <2.0 $ GeV/$c$ in the center-of-mass frame. A systematic analysis of the proton cumulants and correlation functions up to sixth-order as well as the corresponding ratios as a function of the collision centrality, $p_{\rm T}$, and $y$ are presented. The effect of pileup and initial volume fluctuations on these observables and the respective corrections are discussed in detail. The results are compared to calculations from the hadronic transport UrQMD model as well as a hydrodynamic model. In the most central 5% collisions, the value of proton cumulant ratio $C_4/C_2$ is negative, drastically different from the values observed in Au+Au collisions at higher energies. Compared to model calculations including Lattice QCD, a hadronic transport model, and a hydrodynamic model, the strong suppression in the ratio of $C_4/C_2$ at 3 GeV Au+Au collisions indicates an energy regime dominated by hadronic interactions.
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