We present a study of correlations among conserved charges like baryon number, electric charge and strangeness in the framework of 2+1 flavor Polyakov loop extended Nambu–Jona-Lasinio model at vanishing chemical potentials, up to fourth order. Correlations up to second order have been measured in lattice QCD, which compares well with our estimates given the inherent difference in the pion masses in the two systems. Possible physical implications of these correlations and their importance in understanding the matter obtained in heavy-ion collisions are discussed. We also present a comparison of the results with the commonly used unbound effective potential in the quark sector of this model.

• Received 29 October 2010

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.83.014011