Alladi Ramakrishnan Hall

QCD phase diagram from a Taylor expansion approach

Christian Schmidt

Bielefeld University

Lattice QCD calculations provide non-perturbative insights to the phase diagram and bulk properties of strong interaction matter. With increasing computational power and improved algorithms results have become
more and more precise in recent years. However, At nonzero baryon density lattice QCD calculations are still hindered by the infamous
"sign problem". I will review some of the recent results on QCD thermodynamics that are based on the Taylor expansion approach to QCD at nonzero temperature and density. I will also discuss evidence
for universal critical behavior close to the chiral limit of the theory and comment on restrictions on the location of a possible critical point
in the temperature, chemical potential plane.