Net-charge fluctuations in relativistic heavy-ion interactions -: art. no. 034902

Different measures of net-charge fluctuations in ultrarelativistic heavy-ion interactions, namely, v(Q), v(R), Gamma and nu(dyn), are discussed and compared. Their behaviors are confronted in the context of different experimental scenarios. It is found that the nu(dyn) observable exhibits most of the experimentally desirable features. The v(Q) and Gamma observables are also appropriate although proper care must be taken of finite acceptance and efficiency effects. Two simple charged particle production models are considered; production via neutral resonance decay and hadronization from a quark-gluon plasma. The study reveals that dynamical correlations, arising in such models, strongly influence the measures.