RUI: RHIC Physics at Muhlenberg College and In the Allentown Community

RUI：穆伦伯格学院和阿伦敦社区的 RHIC 物理

• 批准号: 1507841
• 负责人: Brett Fadem
• 金额: $ 16.5万
• 依托单位: Muhlenberg College
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2015-07-15 至 2018-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1507841&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: RUI; RHIC; Physics; Muhlenberg; College

It is now a well-established fact that nucleons, protons and neutrons, are made up of more elementary particles called quarks. The main physics program supported by this grant is to measure the energy of particles produced at small scattering angles from collisions of atomic nuclei at high energies, carried out at the Brookhaven National Lab using the PHENIX particle detector. These measurements will help to understand the new state of matter, a plasma of quarks, that is formed from such collisions. In particular, the results of this measurement are expected to probe the initial conditions of quarks and other strongly-interacting particles in the nucleus before the collision. In recent years, we have learned that the initial conditions of the quarks before the collision result in hot-spots within the quark-gluon plasma, and how these hot-spots spread their energy within the plasma provides information on this new state of matter. It is worth noting that this research program is carried out at an undergraduate institution, Muhlenberg College, and is a highlight of the Physics Department. Most of the physics majors have participated in it by the time of their graduation. Furthermore, almost all of the participants have chosen to continue in STEM fields after graduation.Theorists have suggested that measurements of transverse energy are a barometer of a state of saturated plasma. Both studies of existing data from a relativistic heavy ion collisions (RHIC) experiment, called the beam energy scan, by the PHENIX Collaboration and work on transverse energy in the forward and backward kinematic regions are testing gluon-saturation models in ultra-relativistic heavy ion collisions. To date, transverse energy in the forward and backward kinematic regions has not been reported. Associated with regions of higher net baryon chemical potential on the phase diagram of nuclear matter, these measurements, along with existing transverse energy measurements at central rapidity for a variety of colliding systems and beam energies, provide new insight into the strongly interacting quark gluon plasma.

核子、质子和中子都是由更基本的夸克组成的，这一点现在已是公认的事实。该补助金支持的主要物理学计划是测量在布鲁克海文国家实验室使用PHENIX粒子探测器进行的高能量原子核碰撞产生的小散射角粒子的能量。 这些测量将有助于理解物质的新状态，即由这种碰撞形成的夸克等离子体。 特别是，这种测量的结果有望探测碰撞前核中夸克和其他强相互作用粒子的初始条件。 近年来，我们已经了解到，碰撞前夸克的初始条件导致夸克-胶子等离子体中的热点，以及这些热点如何在等离子体中传播它们的能量提供了关于这种新物质状态的信息。值得注意的是，这项研究计划是在本科院校穆伦贝格学院进行的，是物理系的一大亮点。大多数物理专业学生在毕业时都参加了它。此外，几乎所有的参与者都选择在毕业后继续在STEM领域。理论家们认为，横向能量的测量是饱和等离子体状态的晴雨表。PHENIX协作组对相对论重离子碰撞实验（称为束能量扫描）的现有数据进行的研究以及对前向和后向运动学区域中横向能量的研究都在测试超相对论重离子碰撞中的胶子饱和模型。 到目前为止，横向能量的前向和后向运动区域还没有报道。与核物质相图上较高的净重子化学势区域相关联，这些测量，沿着现有的各种碰撞系统和束能量的中心快度处的横向能量测量，为强相互作用的夸克胶子等离子体提供了新的见解。