Locating the critical point in finite systems

by Kovács Győző (Wroclaw University and Wigner RCP)

Monday 14 Sept 2026, 11:00 → 12:00 Europe/Budapest

Tanácsterem (III. ép.)

In a finite system no genuine critical behavior can be observed, which makes the identification of an infinite-volume critical point from finite-size calculations a highly nontrivial task. We investigate several methods for locating criticality at finite sizes based on conserved-charge fluctuations and the distribution of the Lee–Yang zeros across different volumes. These methods are tested within a mean-field effective model of QCD matter that reproduces finite-size effects and finite-size scaling, while exhibiting a critical point in the thermodynamic limit. We also show that a careful treatment of corrections from irrelevant operators is crucial for the accurate determination of the critical point.