Faculty Host: Berndt Meuller
Colliding relativistic beams of heavy ions allows us to heat matter to temperatures above 300 MeV, converting it into a plasma of quarks and gluons. We observe that this new state of matter is a nearly ideal, highly opaque liquid plasma that is strongly coupled. A description based upon string theory and black holes in five dimensions makes this an iconic strongly coupled quantum system; other examples include ultracold fermionic atoms and strongly correlated condensed matter. I will discuss how we experimentally probe the early stages of the collision, and how we will resolve mysteries about hot QCD matter.
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Coffee and cookies before the presentation at 3:15 pm, and refreshments after the presentation will both be served in Room 128.