Relativistic Heavy Ion Collision Studies at the LHC and RHIC

LHC 和 RHIC 的相对论重离子碰撞研究

• 批准号: 1614835
• 负责人: Thomas Humanic
• 金额: $ 129万
• 依托单位: Ohio State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2016-07-01 至 2020-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1614835&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Relativistic; Heavy; Ion; Collision; Studies

It is a well-established fact that protons and neutrons are made up of smaller constituents called quarks and gluons. In collisions using two beams of heavy nuclei, a new state of matter is formed, called the quark-gluon plasma (QGP). This project will answer fundamental questions about the QGP, such as how matter is transformed from a collection of protons and neutrons to a free state where quarks and gluons can travel through space unhindered, much like they did in the primordial soup of matter following the Big Bang. Experiments will be carried out at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC), located at Brookhaven National Laboratory, and at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), located in Geneva, Switzerland. In order to look for signatures of how the transition to the QGP phase has occurred for a given beam energy, the Ohio State group will study the numbers of particles produced in the collisions along with the distribution and correlations of particle momenta. The goals for the high-energy program are three-fold. Firstly, to study the space-time properties of this extremely dense matter created in collisions between heavy nuclei at the highest achievable energies. The second is to study the bulk phase structure of Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD), believed to be the correct theory of the Strong interaction between quarks and gluons. This will be achieved by varying the conditions of the collision to lower energies, to probe the transition(s) between confined and deconfined matter. In particular, the group will perform a novel analysis as a function of the collision energy, measuring coordinate-space anisotropies and dynamics. Thirdly, they will take the tools developed to study bulk physics in heavy ion collisions, and apply them to proton- proton collisions at similar energies. They will look particularly for collective behavior (flow) in these collisions. If the initial reports of such flow in high-energy p+p collisions are confirmed at higher energies, this raises important issues about the nature of flow, and the nature of the initial self-interacting state, itself. In addition, there are broader impacts to society of this proposal in the areas of education, technology and computing.

一个公认的事实是，质子和中子由称为夸克和胶子的较小成分组成。 在使用两个重核的碰撞中，形成了一种新的物质状态，称为Quark-Gluon等离子体（QGP）。 该项目将回答有关QGP的基本问题，例如物质如何从质子和中子的集合转变为一个自由状态，在这种状态下，Quark和Gluons可以不受阻碍地穿越太空，就像在大爆炸之后的原始汤中所做的那样。 实验将在位于布鲁克黑文国家实验室的相对论重离子对撞机（RHIC）以及位于瑞士日内瓦的大型强子对撞机（LHC）的大型强子撞机（LHC）进行。 为了寻找给定梁能量过渡到QGP相的签名，俄亥俄州立组将研究碰撞中产生的颗粒数量以及粒子矩的分布和相关性。高能计划的目标是三倍。首先，研究在最高可实现的能量的重核之间碰撞中产生的这种极为密集的物质的时空特性。第二个是研究量子染色体动力学（QCD）的块相结构，被认为是夸克与胶子之间强相互作用的正确理论。这将通过改变碰撞的条件到较低的能量来实现，以探测约束物质和解污染物之间的过渡。特别是，该组将进行新的分析，这是碰撞能量的函数，测量坐标空间各向异性和动力学。第三，他们将采用开发的工具来研究重离子碰撞中的散装物理，并将其应用于类似能量的质子质子碰撞。他们将特别研究这些碰撞中的集体行为（流动）。如果在高能P+P碰撞中证实了这种流动的初步报道，则在较高的能量中确认了有关流动性质以及初始自我互动状态本身的性质的重要问题。 此外，在教育，技术和计算领域，这一建议对社会产生了更大的影响。