The First Second: Decoding the Nature of the Universe with a Culturally Diverse Workforce

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Fernando A. Flor is awarded an NSF Mathematical and Physical Sciences Ascending Postdoctoral Research Fellowship to conduct a program of research and education at Yale University. Flor will develop models of the formation of composite particles in the early universe using data from the ALICE experiment at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland and from the STAR experiment at Brookhaven National Laboratory on Long Island, New York. Both experiments use collisions of heavy ions to produce small droplets of Quark Gluon Plasma (QGP) at extremely high temperatures that mimic the conditions of the early universe, about one second after the Big Bang. The goal of the research is to understand the mechanism by which the QGP loses energy and forms the neutrons and protons that become normal matter, and how that mechanism is affected by different quarks. In addition, Flor will expand the University of Houston NuSTEAM effort, which connects University of Houston undergraduates with Brookhaven National Laboratory, to Yale University.Relativistic heavy ion collisions serve as a looking glass for probing and understanding the mechanisms governing the strong interaction between quarks and gluons emerging at the early stages of the Universe.The purpose of this project is threefold:1.) To elucidate the reigning mechanisms generating the strong interaction of matter present one second after the Big Bang.2.) To produce a sustainable and inclusive pedagogical outreach platform within the Experimental Heavy ion Physics community through which underrepresented minorities gain access to the field early in their academic careers.3.) To generate a paradigm focused on the overall ascent of underrepresented minority groups into the scientific community.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.