  Exploiting the universality between the QCD critical point and the three
dimensional Ising model, closed form expressions derived (arXiv:1506.00645 )
for non-equilibrium critical cumulants on the crossover side of the critical
point reveal that they can differ both in magnitude and sign from equilibrium
expectations. We demonstrate here that key elements of the Kibble-Zurek
framework of non-equilibrium phase transitions can be employed to describe the
dynamics of these critical cumulants. Our results suggest that observables
sensitive to critical dynamics in heavy-ion collisions should be expressible as
universal scaling functions, thereby providing powerful model independent
guidance in searches for the QCD critical point.
