QCD Matter Studies with Heavy Quarks and Dileptons

量子色动力学（QCD）是粒子物理学标准模型的一部分，是夸克和胶子之间强相互作用的基本理论。通过在相对论重离子对撞机和大型强子对撞机上进行的实验，探索了QCD的相结构。在这些实验中，在高温和高密度下的强相互作用物质在宇宙形成的最初微秒内盛行，可以在实验室中通过高能重原子核碰撞在短时间内重现。本项目将通过研究电磁辐射和超相对论重离子反应中作为穿透探针的重味强子，推进夸克-胶子等离子体的理论认识。这些结果将用于提高我们对强相互作用的基本性质与宇宙中可见质量的产生以及夸克和胶子被限制成核子（原子核的组成部分）之间关系的理解。由研究生和博士后同事进行的基础研究与涉及本科生和高中生的教育和推广活动相结合，包括德克萨斯农工大学星期六上午物理项目的持续和改进的运作，该项目使德克萨斯州中东南部的高中和公众受益。

Part of the Standard Model of particle physics, Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) is the fundamental theory of the strong interactions between quarks and gluons. The phase structure of QCD is explored via ongoing experiments at the Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collider and the Large Hadron Collider. In these experiments, the strongly-interacting matter at high temperatures and densities that prevailed in the first microseconds of the Universe can be recreated for a short moment in the laboratory by colliding heavy atomic nuclei at high energies. This project will advance the theoretical understanding of the Quark-Gluon Plasma by studying the electromagnetic radiation and the heavy flavor hadrons used as penetrating probes in ultra-relativistic heavy-ion reactions. The results will be used to improve our understanding of the relationship between the fundamental properties of the strong interactions and the generation of the visible mass in the Universe and the confinement of quarks and gluons into nucleons, the building blocks of atomic nuclei.The fundamental research conducted by graduate students and post-doctoral associates is integrated with education and outreach activities involving undergraduate and high-school students, including the continued and improved operation of the Saturday Morning Physics program at Texas A&M University that benefits high schools and the general public in Southeast-Central Texas.