Constraining the hadronic spectrum and repulsive interactions in a hadron resonance gas via fluctuations of conserved charges

Abstract: We simultaneously incorporate two common extensions of the hadron resonance gas model, namely the addition of extra, unconfirmed resonances to the particle list and the excluded volume repulsive interactions. We emphasize the complementary nature of these two extensions and identify combinations of conserved charge susceptibilities that allow to constrain them separately. In particular, ratios of second-order susceptibilities like $\chi_{11}^{BQ}/\chi_2^B$ and $\chi_{11}^{BS}/\chi_2^B$ are sensitive only to the baryon spectrum, while fourth-to-second order ratios like $\chi_4^B/\chi_2^B$, $\chi_{31}^{BS}/\chi_{11}^{BS}$, or $\chi_{31}^{BQ}/\chi_{11}^{BQ}$ are mainly determined by repulsive interactions. Analysis of the available lattice results suggests the presence of both the extra states in the baryon-strangeness sector and the repulsive baryonic interaction, with indications that hyperons have a smaller repulsive core than non-strange baryons. The modified hadron resonance gas model presented here significantly improves the description of lattice QCD susceptibilities at chemical freeze-out and can be used for the analysis of event-by-event fluctuations in heavy-ion collisions.