Universality regained: Kibble-Zurek dynamics, off-equilibrium scaling and the search for the QCD critical point

Abstract

We generalize and apply the key elements of the Kibble-Zurek framework of nonequilibrium phase transitions to study the non-equilibrium critical cumulants near the QCD critical point. We demonstrate that the off-equilibrium critical cumulants are expressible as universal scaling functions. We discuss how to use off-equilibrium scaling to provide powerful model-independent guidance in searches for the QCD critical point. Keywords: QCD critical point; critical fluctuations; non-Gaussian cumulants; critical slowing down