TITLE: Quarks, Gluons, ... and Plasma? Oh my!

SPEAKER: Dr. Timothy E. Miller,

TIME: Thursday Apr. 22, 2004 at 4 PM

PLACE: George P. Williams, Jr. Lecture Hall, (Olin 101)

The strong nuclear force is the dominant source of interactions within nuclear matter, binding quarks together to form hadronic matter (e.g. nucleons and mesons). The theory describing these interactions is Quantum Chromo-Dynamics (QCD). One of the more striking predictions of this theory is the deconfinement of quarks from their native hadronic environment, producing a new state of matter dubbed the "Quark-Gluon Plasma" (QGP). The Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at Brookhaven National Labs (BNL) has been operating for the past four years with the primary goal of finding and measuring the properties of this QGP. Four experiments (PHENIX, STAR, BRAHMS, and PHOBOS) are collecting and analyzing data in support of this goal. As a member of the PHENIX collaboration, I will present our recent results and highlight some significant results from the other three experiments. This talk will provide a general overview of the basic theory, predictions, and methods to detect and measure the QGP through high energy nuclear collisions. It will be geared for accessibility to students and faculty of all disciplines.