CAREER: New States of Strongly Interacting Matter in Heavy Ion Collisions

Indiana University, Bloomington IN

Investigators

Abstract

Exploring new states of matter is a fundamental quest. The strong interaction sector of the Standard Model is described by the Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) as a quantum field theory of quarks and gluons. Such quarks and gluons are deeply confined in normal matter. However when normal matter is heated to a high enough temperature, it changes into a new deconfined form of QCD matter directly made of the quarks and gluons. Such a quark-gluon plasma (QGP) briefly occupied the Universe at about a few microseconds after the "Big Bang", and has now been (re-)created as the hottest matter ever in laboratory by heavy ion collisions ("Little Bang"). Its properties are measured at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) as well as the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). Theoretical and experimental studies have suggested that the quark-gluon matter created in heavy ion collisions is strongly-interacting both prior to and after reaching thermal equilibrium. Exactly how such strongly interacting nature arises in the many-body setting from the fundamental QCD theory, is a challenging problem that lacks a deep understanding. This project will investigate this missing link and seek to develop effective descriptions of the matter both in and out of equilibrium. The results will advance our understanding of QCD confinement, provide fresh insights into jet quenching mechanism, make significant progress in search of QCD topological effects, and reduce existing uncertainties on the pre-thermal stage. The expected outcome will contribute to our understanding of fundamental questions such as "how the color confinement phenomenon arises", and "how the experimentally observed properties of the quark-gluon matter in and out of equilibrium emerge from QCD". The study supported by this award concerns the exploration of new forms of strongly interacting matter under extreme conditions. These activities embody important interdisciplinary aspects, as they are expected to have a profound impact on other areas of physics, ranging from cosmology, supernova, compact stars, to supersymmetric theories, string theories as well as condensed matter physics. This project integrates research with education through mentoring of graduate, as well as undergraduate students. This project will actively pursue a five-year educational outreach plan to develop educational software for computer desktops and mobile devices that utilizes visualization and simulations to demonstrate concepts related to the "Physics of Extreme Matter" in an interactive, engaging, and children-friendly manner.