Probing fractional quark charges and remnants of chiral criticality with fluctuations at the LHC

Abstract

We examine how LHC fluctuation measurements can detect fractional quark charges during the early stages of heavy-ion collisions and potential signatures of chiral criticality. Using density correlations methodology with local charge conservation and resonance decay effects, we perform a Bayesian analysis of ALICE data, finding moderate evidence for the freeze-out of electric charge fluctuations in the QGP. The work extends to net-proton cumulants sensitive to criticality remnants, incorporating canonical baselines from baryon conservation and comparing predictions against O-O collision preliminary data.