Crossover Phenomena in the Deconfinement Transition of QCD on the Lattice and in Heavy-ion Collisions at RHIC and the LHC

这个项目涉及夸克-胶子等离子体（QPG）的理论研究，这是一种被认为在大爆炸后几微秒发生的物质状态。在宇宙的早期阶段，夸克和胶子结合形成了自然界的基本组成部分，即我们今天在自然界中观察到的强子。这种转变正在相对论重离子对撞机（RHIC）和大型强子对撞机（LHC）进行的重离子碰撞实验中进行研究。该项目将通过从第一原理计算基本观测量并将其系统地与实验测量相关联来为这些实验计划提供理论支持。通过利用在理论和实验中达到的前所未有的精确度，该项目有望大大推进我们对QGP的理解，并将揭示相变的性质和强子物质形成机制的自由度。该项目将使学生参与国际研究活动，解决高能，核和天体物理学的基本问题。PI积极参与旨在促进休斯顿学校物理学的外展活动，她将举办公开讲座和研讨会。这个项目的目标是发展对夸克-胶子等离子体的微观理解。这里采用的方法是计算相关的观测量的第一原理和映射到实验测量通过唯象模型。具体目标如下：确定强子形成的温度和密度，并将它们与实验确定的强子产率相联系;限制相变顺序变化的临界点的存在和位置;确定相互作用是否足够强，以使QGP中的强子形成顺序，可能是特定的味道。除了直接应用于RHIC和LHC实验外，该项目还将帮助我们了解早期宇宙中物质形成的性质，这可能会澄清与恒星内部和宇宙中物质分布有关的各种天体物理现象。

This project concerns a theoretical study of the Quark-Gluon Plasma (QPG), a state of matter thought to have occurred a few microseconds after the Big Bang. At that early stage of the Universe, quarks and gluons then combined to form the basic building blocks of nature, the hadrons that we observe in Nature today. This transition is being studied in ongoing experiments with heavy-ion collisions at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) and the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). This project will provide theoretical support to these experimental programs by calculating fundamental observables from first principles and systematically relating them to experimental measurements. By taking advantage of the unprecedented level of accuracy achieved in both theory and experiment, this project is expected to advance significantly our understanding of the QGP and will shed light on the nature of the phase transition and the degrees of freedom governing the mechanism of hadronic matter formation. The project will involve students in an international research activity addressing fundamental questions in high energy, nuclear and astrophysics. The PI is actively involved in outreach activities designed to promote physics in Houston schools and she will give public lectures and seminars. The goal of this project is to develop a microscopic understanding of the Quark-Gluon Plasma. The methodology employed here is to calculate relevant observables from first principles and map them to experimental measurements through phenomenological models. The specific objectives are as follows: determine the temperatures and densities at which hadrons are formed and relate them to the ones at which hadron yields are fixed by experiments; constrain the existence and position of the critical point at which the order of the phase transition changes; establish whether the interaction is strong enough to enable sequential, possibly flavor specific, hadron formation in the QGP. Besides having immediate applications to RHIC and LHC experiments, the project will also help us understand the nature of matter formation in the early Universe, which might clarify a variety of astrophysical phenomena pertaining to the interiors of stars and the matter distribution in the Universe.