Electromagnetic and Heavy-Quark Probes of QCD Matter

当代核研究的主要目标之一是发现和定量表征在非常高的温度和密度下强相互作用物质的新阶段，最著名的是夸克-胶子等离子体，它被认为在宇宙演化的最初几微秒内统治了宇宙。 这个领域的一个迷人的方面是，通过在实验室中以高能量碰撞重原子核，在短时间内重新创造这种物质的可能性。 该项目旨在推进夸克-胶子等离子体的理论理解，并在核碰撞实验中开发其创建和性质的唯象签名，例如在布鲁克海文国家实验室的相对论重离子对撞机上进行的。 电磁辐射和含有重夸克的粒子特别适合于提取关于重离子碰撞中形成的热而致密的物质的信息。 计划将这些信息与强相互作用的基本性质（量子色动力学，或QCD）联系起来，以阐明宇宙中可见质量的产生以及夸克和胶子被限制在核子中，核子是原子核的组成部分。 研究生和博士后研究人员的基础研究与针对本科生和地区高中生的教育活动相结合，包括德克萨斯州A M大学以前建立的夏季研究和周六上午物理课程。

One of the main objectives in contemporary nuclear research is the discovery and quantitative characterization of new phases of strongly interacting matter at very high temperatures and densities, most notably the Quark-Gluon Plasma which is believed to have ruled the Universe in the first few microseconds of its evolution. A fascinating aspect of this field is the possibility to recreate this kind of matter, for a short moment, in the laboratory, by colliding heavy atomic nuclei at high energies. This project aims at advancing the theoretical understanding of the Quark-Gluon Plasma, and to develop phenomenological signatures of its creation and properties in nuclear collision experiments, as e.g. conducted with the Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collider at Brookhaven National Laboratory. Electromagnetic radiation and particles containing heavy quarks are particularly suitable to extract information about the hot and dense matter formed in heavy-ion collisions. It is planned to relate this information to fundamental properties of the strong interactions (Quantum Chromodynamics, or QCD), to illuminate the generation of the visible mass in the Universe and the confinement of quarks and gluons into nucleons, the building blocks of atomic nuclei. Basic research by graduate-student and postdoctoral researchers is integrated with educational activities aimed at undergraduate and regional high-school students, including previously established summer research and Saturday Morning Physics programs at Texas A&M University.