Public Abstract

DE-FG02-89ER40531: HEAVY ION COLLISIONS OVER A RANGE OF RELATIVISTIC ENERGIES

Award Status: Active

Institution: Kent State University, Kent, OH
UEI: KXNVA7JCC5K6
DUNS: 041071101

Most Recent Award Date: 04/10/2023
Number of Support Periods: 34
PM: Hicks, Kenneth

Current Budget Period: 04/01/2023 - 03/31/2024
Current Project Period: 04/01/2021 - 03/31/2024
PI: Xu, Zhangbu

Supplement Budget Period: N/A

Public Abstract

Heavy Ion Collisions Over a Range of Relativistic Energies PI - Professor Declan Keane We propose an experimental study of nucleus-nucleus collisions under conditions when the nuclei approach each other from opposite directions at a range of speeds up to 99.995% of the speed of light. Such collisions heat up nuclear matter to about two billion degrees, conditions that are believed to have existed a millionth of a second after the Big Bang. Our research is centered on a multifaceted involvement in the 68-institution STAR experiment at Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York. The ultimate goal of STAR is to understand highly excited sub-nuclear matter, by discovering the role played by quarks and the particles that mediate their interactions. The particular physics focus of our group includes the study of (i) collision fragments containing the relatively rare heavy quarks, a task which calls for extremely accurate calibration and alignment of detectors with unprecedented spatial resolution, and (ii) various patterns and asymmetries displayed by the ejected collision fragments, with a special emphasis on the behavior when the initial energy of the collision is varied. Our current effort has relevance for the possible discovery of a change in the phase of nuclear matter that mathematically resembles the phase change between ice and liquid water. During the upcoming 3-year period, our effort will particularly emphasize the study and publication of data optimized for heavy quark physics, as well as analysis of a recent round of experiments over a broad range of collision energies. In practice, a good fraction of our future effort will continue to be devoted to detector-related software tasks which facilitate the research of the entire STAR collaboration, especially the optimization of upgrade projects that have recently added powerful new measurement capabilities.

Heavy Ion Collisions Over a Range of Relativistic Energies

PI - Professor Declan Keane

We propose an experimental study of nucleus-nucleus collisions under conditions when the nuclei approach each other from opposite directions at a range of speeds up to 99.995% of the speed of light. Such collisions heat up nuclear matter to about two billion degrees, conditions that are believed to have existed a millionth of a second after the Big Bang. Our research is centered on a multifaceted involvement in the 68-institution STAR experiment at Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York. The ultimate goal of STAR is to understand highly excited sub-nuclear matter, by discovering the role played by quarks and the particles that mediate their interactions.

The particular physics focus of our group includes the study of (i) collision fragments containing the relatively rare heavy quarks, a task which calls for extremely accurate calibration and alignment of detectors with unprecedented spatial resolution, and (ii) various patterns and asymmetries displayed by the ejected collision fragments, with a special emphasis on the behavior when the initial energy of the collision is varied. Our current effort has relevance for the possible discovery of a change in the phase of nuclear matter that mathematically resembles the phase change between ice and liquid water.

During the upcoming 3-year period, our effort will particularly emphasize the study and publication of data optimized for heavy quark physics, as well as analysis of a recent round of experiments over a broad range of collision energies. In practice, a good fraction of our future effort will continue to be devoted to detector-related software tasks which facilitate the research of the entire STAR collaboration, especially the optimization of upgrade projects that have recently added powerful new measurement capabilities.