Net-charge probability distributions in heavy ion collisions at chemical freeze-out

The distributions for strangeness, electric charge and baryon number are explored in heavy ion collisions within the hadron resonance gas model. The proximity of the freeze-out curve to the phase boundary indicates that the QCD phase transition and its related critical properties should be observable in heavy ion collisions. However, an experimental verification of a phase change in a medium created in such collisions requires sensitive probes. In this context, a particular role is attributed to fluctuations of conserved charges [1].