Decaf, beers, and the QCD phase diagram: a supercritical mix

In recent years, growing attention has been directed toward exploring the QCD phase diagram near the conjectured critical point, with holography playing an increasingly important role in this effort. Interestingly, the QCD crossover beyond the critical point exhibits striking similarities with supercritical states of matter, perhaps best known in the context of supercritical fluids, which find practical use even in everyday beverages. From a physical standpoint, this connects to a long-standing question: are gases and liquids truly distinct phases of matter, or is there a missing boundary that separates them in the classical phase diagram? In this talk, I will discuss recent progress on the physics of supercritical matter, drawing from experimental findings, numerical simulations, and theoretical insights. I will conclude with a brief comparison to the QCD critical point and related developments in holographic models.