Quark-gluon plasma
Plasma de quarks y gluones
- Date
- 2000-2005 · confidence medium
- Place
- RHIC, Brookhaven, New York, United States / CERN, Geneva
- Credited to
- STAR, PHENIX, BRAHMS and PHOBOS Collaborations (RHIC); SPS experiments (CERN)
- Field
- Cosmos & Earth
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What was discovered
In ultrarelativistic collisions of gold nuclei, quarks and gluons are freed from confinement, forming a nearly perfect liquid at trillions of degrees, the state of matter of the universe in its first microseconds. CERN announced evidence in 2000, and RHIC characterised it in 2005.
CERN announced 'evidence for a new state of matter' in February 2000; the community regards 2005 (RHIC) as the decisive characterisation as a perfect liquid.
What it led to
- Physics of the early universe in the laboratory
- Connection with the AdS/CFT correspondence (minimal viscosity)
- LHC heavy-ion programme (ALICE)
- QCD phase diagram
Built on
- Quantum chromodynamics and deconfinement
- Lattice QCD
- Heavy-ion accelerators
Made possible
- Heavy-ion colliders