Quantum Chromodynamics at extreme gluon densities

Vladimir Skokov,North Carolina State University (Principal Investigator)

This research addresses high-energy collisions of atomic nuclei,in order tofurther the understanding of strongly-interacting Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) systems.

High energy collisions of protons and heavy-ions at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider and the Large Hadron Collider provide the unique possibility of creating and studying a new state of matter, known as quark-gluon plasma, at energy densities and temperatures similar to those of the early Universe at a few microseconds after the Big Bang. Preceding a collision, the structure of colliding high energy objects is not very well understood. It is expected, that when probed at very high energies, heavy nuclei, and even protons, appear as very dense clouds of gluons, carriers of the strong interaction. High gluon density is an intrinsically new regime of the theory, whichdoes not conform toconventional theoretical treatment. The main objective of thiswork is to advance the theory of high-energy collisions of dense gluonic objects, using first-principle theoretical approaches.

Our specific goals include a systematic theoretical framework to study physics of gluon saturation, an application of the framework tohadro-hadron, electron-hadron and ultra-peripheral nuclear collisions,crystallizing the importance of genuine quantum effects in hadronic wave function and the role of the entanglement entropy released in high energy collisions.

The future Electron Ion Collider will test these theoretical predictions.