Crossover Phenomena in the Deconfinement Transition of QCD on the Lattice and in Heavy-ion Collisions at RHIC and the LHC

University Of Houston, Houston TX

Investigators

Abstract

This project concerns a theoretical study of the Quark-Gluon Plasma (QPG), a state of matter thought to have occurred a few microseconds after the Big Bang. At that early stage of the Universe, quarks and gluons then combined to form the basic building blocks of nature, the hadrons that we observe in Nature today. This transition is being studied in ongoing experiments with heavy-ion collisions at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) and the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). This project will provide theoretical support to these experimental programs by calculating fundamental observables from first principles and systematically relating them to experimental measurements. By taking advantage of the unprecedented level of accuracy achieved in both theory and experiment, this project is expected to advance significantly our understanding of the QGP and will shed light on the nature of the phase transition and the degrees of freedom governing the mechanism of hadronic matter formation. The project will involve students in an international research activity addressing fundamental questions in high energy, nuclear and astrophysics. The PI is actively involved in outreach activities designed to promote physics in Houston schools and she will give public lectures and seminars. The goal of this project is to develop a microscopic understanding of the Quark-Gluon Plasma. The methodology employed here is to calculate relevant observables from first principles and map them to experimental measurements through phenomenological models. The specific objectives are as follows: determine the temperatures and densities at which hadrons are formed and relate them to the ones at which hadron yields are fixed by experiments; constrain the existence and position of the critical point at which the order of the phase transition changes; establish whether the interaction is strong enough to enable sequential, possibly flavor specific, hadron formation in the QGP. Besides having immediate applications to RHIC and LHC experiments, the project will also help us understand the nature of matter formation in the early Universe, which might clarify a variety of astrophysical phenomena pertaining to the interiors of stars and the matter distribution in the Universe.