Quark Gluon Plasmas

Saturday Physics SeriesUniversity of Colorado at BoulderMarch 19, 2005

Professor Jamie NagleDepartment of Physics

Over 14 billion years ago, our universe began with the Big Bang. Back then the universe was very, very hot.

212 degrees Fahrenheit

Boiling temperature for water – well not quite in Boulder.

Already at these temperatures, interesting things are happening.

solid liquid gas

2200 degrees Fahrenheit

Molten rock from volcanoes.

10 million degrees Fahrenheit.

Temperature at the Center of the Sun.Very interesting nuclear processes going on there.

10 trillion degrees Fahrenheit.10,000,000,000,000

Temperature a fraction of a second after the Big Bang!

What happens at temperatures like these?

Start with the Basics

Oxygen Nucleus

Atoms are the basic building blocks.Atoms are the basic building blocks.

They are made from a positively charged They are made from a positively charged nucleus with neutrons and protons and nucleus with neutrons and protons and negatively charged electrons in orbit.negatively charged electrons in orbit.

Helium Atom

Alchemy

Different elements have properties dictated by Different elements have properties dictated by the number of orbit electrons which is equal to the number of orbit electrons which is equal to the number of protons in the nucleus (to make a the number of protons in the nucleus (to make a neutral atom).neutral atom).

People have People have wanted to change wanted to change Lead (Pb) into Lead (Pb) into Gold (Au) for a Gold (Au) for a long time.long time.

Chain Reaction

Nuclear fission

n + 235U 140Ce + 94Zr + n + n

Nuclear fission reactions can produce energy.Nuclear fission reactions can produce energy.If they produce two neutrons, these neutrons can If they produce two neutrons, these neutrons can induce more reactions and thus create a chain induce more reactions and thus create a chain reaction. reaction.

Each reaction Each reaction frees about frees about 1010-11-11 Joules. Joules.

But 200 grams of But 200 grams of Uranium has 10Uranium has 102323 atoms.atoms.

Much Higher Energy

If we collide nuclei at much higher energy, they no If we collide nuclei at much higher energy, they no longer chain react.longer chain react.

No $, but probably a good thing.No $, but probably a good thing.

What happens to nuclear matter at the highest What happens to nuclear matter at the highest temperatures?temperatures?

We don’t just change lead to gold.We don’t just change lead to gold.We can see what is inside the protonsWe can see what is inside the protonsand neutrons.and neutrons.

Quarks are InsideProton (charge = +1)Proton (charge = +1) Neutron (charge = 0)Neutron (charge = 0)

2 up quarks (+2/3 charge)2 up quarks (+2/3 charge)1 down quark (-1/3 charge)1 down quark (-1/3 charge)

1 up quarks (+2/3 charge)1 up quarks (+2/3 charge)2 down quark (-1/3 charge)2 down quark (-1/3 charge)

Up Down Strange Charm Bottom Top

“Three quarks on a lark.” James Joyce

OutlineOutline

• What are the goals of our experiments?What are the goals of our experiments?

• How do we conduct these experiments?How do we conduct these experiments?

• Can we make $ from what we find?Can we make $ from what we find?

• Do we learn something fundamental?Do we learn something fundamental?

• Will we destroy the world in the process?Will we destroy the world in the process?

Phase Transition

Odd observation in nature.We never see free individual quarks. They are always in groups like in protons (3).

Quarks held together by strong force. Has property like springs !

Transitions of the Early Universe• Post Inflation, radiation yields quark-gluon plasma.• Six microseconds after the Big Bang, all quarks and gluons are confined into hadrons.• One second later, light nuclei are formed.• 300,000 years later, atoms are formed.

A Short Flight Away…...

Nuclear Collider

Gold + Gold Collisions

Time EvolutionTime EvolutionPCM & clust. hadronization

NFD

NFD & hadronic TM

PCM & hadronic TM

CYM & LGT

string & hadronic TM

We accelerate Gold nuclear up to 99.995% the speed of light. Then we collide two beams to convert the massive kinetic energy into heat to create a small quark plasma.

Plasma Explodes and Cools

Complex Detectors

USA Abilene Christian University, Abilene, TX Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY University of California - Riverside, Riverside, CA University of Colorado, Boulder, CO Columbia University, Nevis Laboratories, Irvington, NY Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA University of Illinois Urbana Champaign, IL Iowa State University and Ames Laboratory, Ames, IA Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM Dept. of Chemistry, Stony Brook Univ., Stony Brook, NY Dept. Phys. and Astronomy, Stony Brook Univ., Stony Brook, NY Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN

Brazil University of São Paulo, São PauloChina Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan China Institute of Atomic Energy, Beijing Peking University, BeijingFrance LPC, University de Clermont-Ferrand, Clermont-Ferrand Dapnia, CEA Saclay, Gif-sur-Yvette IPN-Orsay, Universite Paris Sud, CNRS-IN2P3, Orsay LLR, Ecole Polytechnique, CNRS-IN2P3, Palaiseau SUBATECH, Ecole des Mines de Nantes, CNRS-IN2P3, Univ. NantesGermany University of Münster, MünsterHungary Central Research Institute for Physics (KFKI), Budapest Debrecen University, Debrecen Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE), Budapest India Banaras Hindu University, Banaras Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, BombayIsrael Weizmann Institute, RehovotJapan Center for Nuclear Study, University of Tokyo, Tokyo Hiroshima University, Higashi-Hiroshima KEK, Institute for High Energy Physics, Tsukuba Kyoto University, Kyoto Nagasaki Institute of Applied Science, Nagasaki RIKEN, Institute for Physical and Chemical Research, Wako RIKEN-BNL Research Center, Upton, NY University of Tokyo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba Waseda University, Tokyo S. Korea Cyclotron Application Laboratory, KAERI, Seoul Kangnung National University, Kangnung Korea University, Seoul Myong Ji University, Yongin City System Electronics Laboratory, Seoul Nat. University, Seoul Yonsei University, SeoulRussia Institute of High Energy Physics, Protovino Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, Dubna Kurchatov Institute, Moscow PNPI, St. Petersburg Nuclear Physics Institute, St. Petersburg St. Petersburg State Technical University, St. PetersburgSweden Lund University, Lund

12 Countries; 57 Institutions; 460 Participants

Scale of the Project

Collect the Data!Collect the Data!

Collect the Data!

We designed and built 400 custom data processor boards that receive over 50 Gigabits of data per second.

Programmed Analog Devices SHARC processors.

Biggest market userof SHARC processorsare Gameboys.

We are prototyping a new trigger processor this year using ALTERA’s latest programmable gate array chip.

Cutting Edge Digital Electronics

First Collisions: June 15, 2000

Creating Black Holes?

Can be dismissed with some basic General Relativity

• The Schwarzschild radius of a heavy ion collision:

• Radius of Au+Au collision compressed by x 100:

metersc

GMRS49

2 102

metersR 1510

much less than Planck length !

Even if it could form, it would evaporate by Hawking Radiation

in 10-83 seconds !

Science in the Media

JournalistsJournalists - when JFK Jr.’s - when JFK Jr.’s flight disappeared, reporters flight disappeared, reporters called Brookhaven to ask if a called Brookhaven to ask if a black hole created at RHIC could black hole created at RHIC could have eaten the plane.have eaten the plane.

Science FictionScience Fiction - in this book, - in this book, experiments including PHENIX and experiments including PHENIX and STAR study collisions which STAR study collisions which accidentally create baby universes.accidentally create baby universes.

Probe the Plasma

Calibrated LASER

Plasma we want to study

Calibrated Light Meter

Calibrated Heat Source

Jet Physics

Jet = a quark that tries to escape.

Eventually the “spring” breaks into a shower of particles.

hadrons

q

q

hadronsleadingparticle

leading particle

OPAL Event DisplaySchematic View of Jet Production

Quark is the Probe

q

q

A quark trying to escape through the plasma loses energy by scattering with the surrounding quarks.

We can look for a suppression of particles from jets.

Jet Quenching

Indication of opaque medium and quark energy loss.