We argue that the event-by-event fluctuation of the proton number is a
meaningful and promising observable for the purpose of detecting the QCD
critical end-point in heavy-ion collision experiments. The long range
fluctuation of the order parameter induces a characteristic correlation between
protons which can be measured. The proton fluctuation also manifests itself as
anomalous enhancement of charge fluctuations near the end-point, which might be
already seen in existing data.Comment: 4 pages, version accepted in PR
