Embedding a critical point in a hadron to quark-gluon crossover equation of state

Abstract: Lattice QCD simulations have shown unequivocally that the transition from hadrons to quarks and gluons is a crossover when the baryon chemical potential is zero or small. Many model calculations predict the existence of a critical point at a value of the chemical potential where current lattice simulations are unreliable. We show how to embed a critical point in a smooth background equation of state so as to yield the critical exponents and critical amplitude ratios expected of a transition in the same universality class as the liquid-gas phase transition and the 3D Ising model. The resulting equation of state has parameters which may be inferred by hydrodynamic modeling of heavy ion collisions in the Beam Energy Scan II at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider or in experiments at other accelerators.