Abstract

In the world around us, quarks and gluons do not exist as free particles because they are permanently bound in hadrons by the strong interaction. At very high temperatures and densities however, hadronic matter is expected to undergo a phase transition to a new state of matter where quark and gluon degrees of freedom are not anymore confined inside the hadrons. This new state of matter is called the Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP). Such temperatures and densities were reached in the early universe until the first microseconds after the Big Bang.
Not only in the early universe, but also in heavy-ion collisions at ultra-relativistic energies it is possible to reach temperatures and densities well above the phase-transition point. Currently, the highest temperatures and energy densities are reached in collisions of heavy-ions at the Large Hadron Collider. At the LHC, the ALICE detector is built to precisely measure the properties of the QGP and the QCD phase transition. 

In this colloquium I will discuss the surprising properties of this QGP on how we have measured this."  

Please Note: The Colloquium Ehrenfestii takes place Wednesday evenings starting at 19:30 hours in the main auditorium of the Oort building. Before the Colloquium, there is a common dinner in the canteen located on the ground floor of the Oort building. This dinner starts at 18:00 hours sharp and is free of charge, under the condition that one attends the colloquium and that one has made a reservation before noon on the Tuesday preceding the colloquium.

The registration form is only accessible from within the University (to block spammers); if you would like to register for the dinner from outside the University, please send an email to fran@lorentz.leidenuniv.nl