Quantifying corrections to the hadron resonance gas with lattice QCD

Abstract: The hadron resonance gas (HRG) model and its extensions are often used to describe the hadronic phase of strongly interacting matter. In our work we use lattice-QCD simulations with temporal extents of $N_\tau=8,10$ and $12$ to quantify corrections to the ideal HRG. Firstly, we determine a number of subleading fugacity expansion coefficients of the QCD free energy via a two-dimensional scan on the imaginary baryon number chemical potential ($\mu_B$) - strangeness chemical potential ($\mu_S$) plane. Using the aforementioned coefficients, we also extrapolate ratios of baryon number and strangeness fluctuations and correlations to finite chemical potentials via a truncated fugacity expansion. Our results extrapolated along the crossover line $T_\mathrm{c}(\mu_B)$ at strangeness neutrality are able to reproduce trends of experimental net-proton fluctuations measured by the STAR Collaboration.