Hunting for the Unicorn: RHIC and the Quark-Gluon Plasma

por Prof. R. Pisarski (BNL & Niels Bohr Inst.)

viernes 26 mar. 2004 12:00 → 13:00 Europe/Madrid

Sala Seminarios (Dpto. de Física Teórica (UVEG))

I give a pedagogical review of why it is believed that a new phase of hadronic matter - the Quark-Gluon Plasma - exists at temperatures above a trillion degrees or so (the "unicorn"). Lattice simulations tell us surprising things about the phase transition. Recent experimental results from the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider at Brookhaven Lab. unambiguously indicate that a new type of matter has been created. For example, in the central collisions of gold nuclei, jets are "eaten". I suggest that the unicorn is no longer a mythical creature, although it may not be the unicorn we expected to find.