Related papers: Exploring the Big Bang with femtoscopy
Photoproduction in ultra-peripheral relativistic heavy-ion collisions displays many unique features, often involving quantum mechanical coherence and two-source interference between photon emission from the two ions. We review the recent…
Giant resonances and giant resonances built on other giant resonances in nuclei are observed with very large cross sections in relativistic heavy ion collisions. A theoretical effort is underway to understand the reaction mechanism which…
I describe in very simple terms the theoretical tools needed to investigate ultra-peripheral nuclear reactions for nuclear astrophysics purposes. For a more detailed account, see arXiv:0908.4307.
In nuclear collisions at relativistic energies, matter is created which resembles closely the matter that filled all space until about 15 microseconds after the big bang. Here we summarize selected aspects of the research that led to the…
I first review the early history of the ultrarelativistic heavy ion program, starting with the 1974 Bear Mountain Workshop, and the 1983 Aurora meeting of the U.S. Nuclear Science Committee, just one billion seconds ago, which laid out the…
Understanding where elements were formed has been a key goal in astrophysics for nearly a century, with answers involving cosmology, stellar burning, and cosmic explosions. Since 1957, the origin of the heaviest elements (formed via the…
Some theories of particle physics are so compelling that it is worth doing a comprehensive and systematic set of experimental searches to see if they are realized in nature. Supersymmetry is one such theory. This review focuses on the…
The Large Hadron Collider has provided large amounts of data on collisions of small systems, such as proton-proton and proton-lead at unprecedented collision energies. Their space-time size and structure can be inferred from the measurement…
I review the status of the search for quark-gluon plasma in relativistic heavy-ion collisions. The available data provide strong evidence for the "three pillars of the Little Bang model": strong radial expansion of the collision fireball…
Nuclear fission represents the ultimate test for microscopic theories of nuclear structure and reactions. Fission is a large-amplitude, time-dependent phenomenon taking place in a self-bound, strongly-interacting many-body system. It…
How is the universe organized on large scales? How did this structure evolve from the unknown initial conditions to the present time? The answers to these questions will shed light on the cosmology we live in, the amount, composition and…
During its early evolution, the hot, dense Universe provided a laboratory for probing fundamental physics at high energies. By studying the relics from those early epochs, such as the light elements synthesized during primordial…
One of the most spectacular scientific breakthroughs in past decades was using measurements of the fluctuations in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) to test precisely our understanding of the history and composition of the Universe.…
Femtoscopy measures space-time characteristics of the particle emitting source created in relativistic heavy-ion collisions. It is argued that collective behavior of matter (radial flow) produces specific femtoscopic signatures. The one…
Big bang nucleosynthesis (BBN), an epoch of primordial nuclear transformations in the expanding Universe, has left an observable imprint in the abundances of light elements. Precision observations of such abundances, combined with…
This chapter provides an introduction to collider phenomenology, explaining how theoretical concepts are translated into experimental analyses at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). Beginning with the principles of collider operation and…
This article summarizes our present knowledge about nuclear matter at the highest energy densities and its formation in relativistic heavy ion collisions. We review what is known about the structure and properties of the quark-gluon plasma…
The development of high-resolution imaging methods such as electron and scanning probe microscopy and atomic probe tomography have provided a wealth of information on structure and functionalities of solids. The availability of this data in…
The identity of dark matter is one of the key outstanding problems in both particle and astrophysics. In this thesis, I describe a number of complementary searches for particle dark matter. I discuss how the impact of dark matter on stars…
Gamma-ray astronomy explores the most energetic photons in nature to address some of the most pressing puzzles in contemporary astrophysics. It encompasses a wide range of objects and phenomena: stars, supernovae, novae, neutron stars,…