Studies of Relativistic Heavy Ion Collisions at CERN and RHIC

小行星9511850 将在相对论重离子核物理方面进行研究。实验将在CERN、AGS和RHIC重离子加速器上进行。 这些实验的主要目标是获得证据，证明相对论重离子与足够高的能量碰撞产生从正常核物质到由大量自由夸克和胶子组成的新物质相的相变。 上述加速器设施提供了将能量密度提高到正常核物质密度的十倍以上所需的能量范围，被认为足以产生退禁闭夸克和胶子物质。 将设计和进行实验，研究夸克胶子等离子体的特征，反映在粒子动量分布和产生的每种粒子的多重性上。 将开展研制工作，以生产一种具有足够的单个粒子跟踪和识别能力的探测器系统，以处理预期来自中心重离子碰撞的巨大粒子多重性。 将进行一些计算以确定碰撞系统内的预期相互作用区域。 此外，还将完成低能电荷交换反应的测量，这与核子-核子相互作用的密度依赖性有关。 这些领域的研究将促进我们对核子和介子的夸克模型的理解。 这些主题是核物理学中最令人兴奋的。 研究生和博士后的教育是这项活动不可或缺的一部分，最先进的主要设备的开发和建设也是如此 *

9511850 Humanic Research will be carried out in relativistic heavy ion nuclear physics. Experiments will be conducted at the CERN, AGS, and RHIC heavy ion accelerators. The main goal of these experiments is to obtain evidence that collisions of relativistic heavy ions with sufficiently high energy produce a phase transition from normal nuclear matter into a new phase of matter made up of a large volume of free quarks and gluons. The above named accelerator facilities provide a range of energies needed to raise the energy density to more than ten times normal nuclear matter density, thought to be sufficient to produce deconfined quark and gluon matter. Experiments will be designed and carried out which look at the signatures of a quark-gluon plasma as reflected in particle momentum distributions and multiplicities of each type of particle produced. Development work will be carried out for purpose of producing a detector system with sufficient individual particle tracking and identification capability to handle the huge particle multiplicities expected from central heavy ion collisions. Some calculations will be carried out to determine expected interaction regions within the colliding systems. In addition, lower energy charge exchange reaction measurements will be completed which bear on the density dependence of nucleon-nucleon interactions. Research in these areas will advance our understanding of the underlying quark model of nucleons and mesons. These topics are among the most exciting in nuclear physics. Education of graduate students and postdocs is integral to this activity, as is development and construction of major state-of-the-art equipment ***