High-energy nuclear physics

High-energy nuclear physics studies nuclear matter and atomic nuclei using energetic particle collisions, probing their structure, interactions, and phase changes.

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Relativistic heavy-ion collision: A collision between atomic nuclei accelerated to near the speed of light. These collisions create the hot, dense matter studied in this field.
Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider: A collider at Brookhaven National Laboratory that accelerates and collides heavy ions and polarized protons. RHIC experiments discovered strong collective behavior in the quark–gluon plasma.
Quark model: A model that describes hadrons as combinations of quarks and antiquarks. It established the constituents whose high-energy behavior nuclear collisions investigate.
QCD phase diagram: A map of possible phases of strongly interacting matter across temperature and baryon density. Collision programs seek to chart its phases and locate possible critical behavior.
Quark–gluon plasma: A state of matter in which quarks and gluons are no longer confined inside individual hadrons. Heavy-ion collisions can produce this deconfined phase for brief intervals.
Large Hadron Collider: The particle collider at CERN that accelerates proton and ion beams to very high energies. Its lead-ion program studies quark–gluon plasma at higher collision energies.
Quantum chromodynamics: The quantum field theory describing the strong interaction between quarks and gluons. Its development gave nuclear physics a fundamental theory of strong interactions.
QCD critical point: A hypothesized endpoint of a first-order phase transition in the QCD phase diagram. Fluctuations near it could leave detectable signatures in collision data.
Parton distribution function: A function describing the momentum distribution of quarks and gluons within a fast-moving hadron. It connects incoming nuclei’s microscopic contents to measured collision outcomes.
ALICE experiment: A CERN detector designed primarily to study heavy-ion collisions and strongly interacting matter. ALICE measures the particles and correlations used to characterize the plasma.