Relativistic Heavy-Ion Physics at the University of Rochester

0072204沃尔夫这笔赠款为罗切斯特大学物理学和天文学系的相对论重离子小组提供运作资金。 在这三年中，我们将完成对E917在AGS收集的数据的分析，并开始使用RHIC的PHOBOS探测器获取数据。PHOBOS是在RHIC启动时准备运行的四个批准实验之一。 PHOBOS将首先看到金核在RHIC碰撞时产生的极端能量密度。 人们相信，一种新的物质状态，即所谓的夸克胶子等离子体（QGP），将在这些碰撞中形成。 PHOBOS将研究这种新的物质状态，它的性质将提供有关极早期宇宙（大爆炸后几微秒）状态的重要和新的信息。 PHOBOS旨在以无偏的方式研究尽可能多的碰撞，并寻找p-p，p-A和A-A碰撞之间的显着差异。 由于其固有的简单性，PHOBOS在RHIC的初始运行期间有可能成为一个重大的科学发现。 由罗切斯特小组设计和建造的飞行时间阵列将大大提高PHOBOS的物理能力，使其接受程度大约增加一倍。

0072204Wolfs This grant provides operating funds for the relativistic heavy-ion group at the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Rochester. During the three years covered by this grant we will complete the analysis of the data collected by E917 at the AGS and start taking data using the PHOBOS detector at RHIC. PHOBOS is one of the four approved experiments ready to run at the turn-on of RHIC. PHOBOS will have the first look at the extreme energy densities that will be created when gold nuclei collide at RHIC. It is believed that a new state of matter, the so-called quark-gluon plasma (QGP), will be formed in these collisions. PHOBOS will study this new state of matter, and its properties will provide important and new information about the state of the very early universe (a few microseconds after the Big Bang). PHOBOS is designed to study as many collisions as possible, in an unbiased way, and to search for significant differences between p-p, p-A, and A-A collisions. Due to its inherent simplicity, PHOBOS has the potential of a major scientific discovery during the initial running period of RHIC. The time-of-flight array designed and constructed by the Rochester group will significantly enhance the physics capabilities of PHOBOS, by roughly doubling its acceptance.