CAREER: Properties of Strongly Interacting Matter from Lattice QCD

大爆炸后几微秒，原始宇宙处于夸克-胶子等离子体状态。今天，这种强相互作用物质的阶段可以在极端的温度或密度条件下重新产生，就像目前在相对论重离子对撞机（RHIC）和大型强子对撞机（LHC）上进行的超相对论重离子碰撞中实现的那样。该项目将支持RHIC和LHC的实验计划，从第一原理计算可观测量并将其与测量相关联。其目的是通过回答与相变性质和自由度有关的未解决的问题来促进对强相互作用的理解，这些问题在相图的不同区域填充系统。目前在理论计算中可实现的高精度首次允许理论和实验之间的这种结合。这个项目将有助于培养下一代的学生工作的基本相互作用的理论，无论是在本科和研究生水平。学生将接触到国际环境，并将学习最先进的理论工具。PI将通过公开讲座，研讨会和访问休斯顿学校向少数民族推广物理学。该项目的目标是实现对夸克胶子等离子体性质的微观理解。该项目将有助于确定强相互作用物质的相图，填充其不同区域的自由度，通过QCD交叉过渡的系统的演变及其在退禁闭阶段的热力学性质。该方法是使用第一原理的数值模拟来计算相关的观测值，并通过唯象模型将其映射到测量值。具体目标如下：确定QCD相图中强子形成的温度和密度，并将其与实验测量的温度和密度联系起来;限制临界点的存在和位置，在临界点处相变的顺序发生变化;确定相互作用是否足够强，以实现QGP中连续的、可能是特定味道的强子形成。通过零密度和有限密度部分，该项目将从第一原理为RHIC和LHC计划提供一个连贯的理论框架。除了直接应用于重离子碰撞，该项目预计将对其他物理学领域产生更广泛的影响，如弦理论，宇宙学和凝聚态。

A few microseconds after the Big Bang, the primordial Universe was in a Quark-Gluon Plasma state. Today, this phase of strongly interacting matter can be re-created under extreme conditions of temperatures or densities, like the ones achieved in ultra-relativistic heavy ion collisions currently taking place at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) and the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). This project will support the experimental programs at RHIC and LHC by calculating observables from first principles and relating them to measurements. The purpose is to advance the understanding of strong interactions by answering unresolved questions related to the nature of the phase transition and the degrees of freedom, which populate the system in the different regions of the phase diagram. The high precision achievable currently in the theoretical calculations allows such a combined effort between theory and experiment for the first time. This project will help train the next generation of students working on the theory of fundamental interactions, both at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Students will be exposed to an international environment and will learn the most advanced theoretical tools. The PI will promote physics to underrepresented minorities through public lectures, seminars and visits to Houston schools.The goal of this project is to achieve a microscopic understanding of Quark-Gluon Plasma properties. The project will help determine the phase diagram of strongly interacting matter, the degrees of freedom which populate its different regions, the evolution of the system through the QCD crossover transition and its thermodynamic properties in the deconfined phase. The methodology is to calculate relevant observables using numerical simulations from first principles and map them to measurements through phenomenological models. The specific objectives are as follows: determine the temperatures and densities in the QCD phase diagram at which hadrons are formed and relate them to the ones measured in experiment; 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. With its zero and finite-density components, the project will yield a coherent theoretical framework for the RHIC and LHC programs from first principles. Besides having immediate applications to heavy ion collisions, the project is expected to have a broader impact on other fields of physics, such as string theory, cosmology and condensed matter.