Probing the QCD Equation of State and Hadronization at RHIC

该奖项支持杜克大学Steffen Bass教授（其团队将在纽约布鲁克海文国家实验室的相对论重离子对撞机（RHIC）上进行研究）和日本京都大学物理系Masayuki Asakawa教授之间为期三年的国际合作研究项目。他们将进行一项研究，包括探索QCD（量子色动力学理论）的状态方程和强子化。强相互作用的强子物质由量子色动力学（QCD）理论描述。QCD的基本成分，夸克和胶子，通常局限于强子。然而，人们相信在极端条件下，比如宇宙大爆炸后不久，夸克和胶子可以作为独立的粒子存在。这种物质状态被称为夸克-胶子等离子体（QGP）。由于宇宙的快速膨胀，这种等离子体经历了一个相变，形成了强子——最重要的是核子——它构成了我们今天所知道的物质的基石。研究人员将进行以下四个项目的研究：(1)探测QGP状态方程；(2)作为解定义信号的净电荷和重子数波动；(3)场输运的量子描述；(4)晶格上的强子谱函数。该项目汇集了两个具有互补专业知识和研究能力的实验室的努力。美国研究人员是模拟重离子碰撞的专家，日本研究人员以介子凝聚体的研究而闻名。在实验室条件下对QGP的研究，应该会对早期宇宙的发展和极端条件下物质的行为产生重要的新见解。该项目通过一批博士后、研究生和本科生的参与来促进国际人力资源的发展。通过思想和技术的交流，该项目将扩大我们的基础知识基础，促进国际了解与合作。研究结果将在科学会议和科学期刊上传播。

0335392BassThis award supports a three-year international collaborative research project between Professor Steffen Bass at Duke University whose group will be carrying out research at the Relativistic Heavy-ion Collider (RHIC) at Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York and Professor Masayuki Asakawa of the Physics Department of Kyoto University in Japan. They will undertake a study that consists of probing the QCD (theory of quantum chromodynamics) Equation of State and Hadronization. Hadronic, strongly interacting, matter is described by the theory of quantum chromodynamics (QCD). The basic constituents of QCD, quarks and gluons, are normally confined to hadrons. However, it is believed that under extreme conditions, such as shortly after the creation of the universe in the Big Bang, quarks and gluons can exist as independent particles. This state of matter is called a quark-gluon plasma (QGP). Due to the rapid expansion of the Universe, this plasma went through a phase transition to form hadrons - most importantly nucleons - which constitute the building blocks of matter as we know it today. The researchers will be undertaking studies on the following four projects: (1) probing the QGP equation of state, (2) net charge and baryon number fluctuations as signal of deconfinement, (3) quantum description of field transport and (4) hadron spectral functions on the lattice. The project brings together the efforts of two laboratories that have complementary expertise and research capabilities. The U.S. researchers are experts in simulating heavy ion collisions and the Japanese researchers are well known for their work on pion condensates. The investigation of the QGP, under laboratory conditions, should yield important novel insights into the development of the early universe and the behavior of matter under extreme conditions. The project advances international human resources through the participation of a number of postdocs, graduate students and undergraduate students. Through the exchange of ideas and technology, this project will broaden our base of basic knowledge and promote international understanding and cooperation. Results of the research will be disseminated at scientific meetings and in scientific journals.