Charge Fluctuations along the QCD phase boundary
  We discuss the properties of the net--quark and isovector fluctuations along the chiral phase transition line in the plane spanned by temperature and baryon chemical potential. Our results are obtained in terms of the Nambu--Jona-Lasinio (NJL) model within the mean-field approximation. The model is formulated at the finite temperature and for non-vanishing net--quark and the isospin chemical potentials. The fermion interactions are controlled by the strength of the scalar and vector couplings in the iso-scalar and iso-vector channels of constituent quarks. We explore properties and differences in the behavior of the net--quark number and isovector susceptibilities for different values of thermal parameters near the phase transition. We argue that any non-monotonic behavior of the net--quark number susceptibility along the phase transition boundary is an excellent probe of the existence and the position of the second order endpoint in the QCD phase diagram. 
K. Redlich (Wroclaw), B. Friman (GSI), C. Sasaki (GSI)