The Life of QCD Fluctuations


Fluctuations of conserved charges provide a promising window into the QCD phase diagram and its possible critical point in heavy-ion collisions. Their interpretation, however, requires understanding how the corresponding conserved-charge densities and correlations evolve during the short lifetime of the rapidly expanding fireball. I will focus on how fluctuating hydrodynamics connects this real-time evolution to experimentally accessible cumulants of conserved-charge fluctuations, and discuss how memory in the diffusive current can leave observable imprints on the final fluctuation signal.