US-France Cooperative Research: QCD at High Parton Density

University Of Washington, Seattle WA

Investigators

Abstract

0339138 Son One of the most active areas of research in nuclear physics is the study of matter under extreme conditions: high temperature, high baryon number density and high parton density. In this three-year U.S.-France cooperative research project, theoretical physicists from the University of Washington, Columbia University, Universite Paris-Sud, and the French Center for Atomic Energy will investigate properties of QCD (quantum chromo dynamics) at high parton density regime. This regime can be achieved in high-energy heavy ion collisions at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (Brookhaven) and Large Hadron Collider (CERN) and in deep inelastic scattering experiments at HERA. Issues of quark-gluon plasma formation in heavy ion collisions and its relationship to the small-x wave-function of a high-energy heavy ion will be addressed. They will follow with studies of the quark-gluon system's evolution and of experimental signatures characteristic of high parton density initial state and subsequent equilibration. The U.S. and French researchers have expertise in field theory, non-equilibrium kinetic theory and phenomenology, which will be used to explore properties of QCD. Their investigations will advance understanding of QCD under extreme conditions and impact ultra relativistic heavy ion experiments running and scheduled at Brookhaven, CERN and HERA. The National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) jointly support this project. NSF provides funding to the U.S. investigators for their visits to France. The CNRS covers the costs of visits by the French investigators to the United States.