Related papers: The phase structure of QCD: Fluctuations and Corre…
Just as Quantum Electrodynamics describes how electrons are bound in atoms by the electromagnetic force, mediated by exchange of photons, Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) describes how quarks are bound inside hadrons by the strong force,…
The magnitude of the strong interaction is characterized by $\alpha_s$, the coupling parameter in Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD), a parameter with an unexplained value in the Standard Model. In this paper, a candidate explanation for…
These lectures provide a modern introduction to selected topics in the physics of ultrarelativistic heavy ion collisions which shed light on the fundamental theory of strong interactions, the Quantum Chromodynamics. The emphasis is on the…
We review theoretical approaches to explore the phase diagram of nuclear and quark matter at high baryon density. We first look over the basic properties of quantum chromodynamics (QCD) and address how to describe various states of QCD…
In this talk I discuss three main topics concerning the theoretical description and observable signatures of possible phase transitions in nuclear collisions. The first one is related to the multifragmentation of thermalized sources and its…
After a few microseconds of the creation of our Universe through the Big Bang, the primordial matter was believed to be a soup of the fundamental constituents of matter -- quarks and gluons. This is expected to be created in the laboratory…
The evolution of the Universe is the ultimate laboratory to study fundamental physics across energy scales that span about 25 orders of magnitude: from the grand unification scale through particle and nuclear physics scales down to the…
Some recent developments concerning the role of strange quark matter for astrophysical systems and the QCD phase transition in the early universe are addressed. Causality constraints of the soft nuclear equation of state as extracted from…
One of the latest trends in the advancement of experimental high-energy physics is to identify the quark gluon plasma (QGP) predicted qualitatively by quantum chromodynamics (QCD). We discuss whether nuclear transparency effect which is…
A review is given on recent experimental and theoretical/phenomenological developments regarding the phase structure of the strongly interacting matter. Specifically, evolution with the collision energy of net-proton number fluctuations as…
We revisit the phase structure and thermodynamics of QCD in the low temperature and high density region, where a strong, first-order phase transition is expected beyond the critical end point. By solving the quark gap equation in the…
There is little doubt that Quantumchromodynamics (QCD) is the theory which describes strong interaction physics. Lattice gauge simulations of QCD predict that in the $\mu,T$ plane there is a line where a transition from confined hadronic…
The QCD phase diagram might exhibit a first order phase transition for large baryochemical potentials. We explore the cosmological implications of such a QCD phase transition in the early universe. We propose that the large baryon-asymmetry…
At very large densities and/or temperatures a quark-hadron phase transition is expected to take place. Simulations of QCD on lattice at zero baryon density indicate that the transition occurs at $T_c \sim 150-170$ MeV. The calculations…
In the Big Bang scenario, the early Universe is characterized by the {\it particle era}, i.e. a Universe made of particles. This period connects both scales of fundamental physics: infinitesimally small and infinitely large. So, particle…
Quantum Chromodynamics, the microscopic theory of strong interactions, has not yet been applied to the calculation of nuclear wave functions. However, it certainly provokes a number of specific questions and suggests the existence of novel…
The QCD phase transition has important consequences in the context of both the early universe as well as compact stars. Such transitions are being studied for high temperature and small chemical potential scenario in the laboratory. There…
With discovery of the Higgs boson, the Standard Model of Particle Physics became complete. Its formulation is a remarkable story; and the process of verification is continuing, with the most important chapter being the least well…
High-energy heavy-ion physics and low-energy nuclear structure physics have historically been disconnected fields. The hydrodynamic description of the quark-gluon plasma (QGP) requires input from nuclear structure to model the initial…
High parton densities in ultra-relativistic nuclear collisions suggest a description of these collisions wherein the high energy nuclear wavefunctions and the initial stages of the nuclear collision are dominated by classical fields. This…