Probing the QCD Equation of State and Hadronization at RHIC

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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.