Physics Colloquium, September 27, 2011
Trillion Degree Matter Gunther Roland

MIT

The theory of strong interactions, Quantum Chromodynamics, predicts that at very high temperatures ordinary nuclear matter will melt into a plasma of quarks and gluons. This unique state of matter, which filled the early universe shortly after the Big Bang, can be studied in collisions of nuclei at large particle colliders like RHIC at Brookhaven Lab and LHC at CERN. Recently, new ideas and new data have brought us closer to precision measurements of quark-gluon plasma properties. These developments, which suggest that matter at trillion-degree temperatures behaves like a near-ideal liquid, have led to unexpected connections to strongly coupled systems in many areas of physics, ranging from string theory to ultra-cold atoms. I will review the most striking observations made in high energy heavy-ion collisions, with particular emphasis on the first results from 2010 LHC data.

Dr. Roland Web Site

4:00 p.m., Physics Research Building (PRB), Room 1080

Reception at 3:45 p.m., Atrium, PRB