The Phase Diagram of Strongly Interacting Matter

Europe/London
University of Liverpool

University of Liverpool

Description
QCD predicts that strongly interacting matter, under extreme conditions of density and temperature, undergoes a phase transition from hadronic matter to a plasma of deconfined quarks and gluons (QGP). This is also expected to have been the state of the Early Universe a microsecond after the Big Bang. The study of the phase diagram of strongly interacting matter is a new approach to investigate QCD at its natural scale and to address the fundamental question of confinement and chiral-symmetry breaking. A fundamental description of this phase diagram within QCD remains a challenge. Theoretical approaches, including lattice gauge theory and string-theory inspired strongly coupled theories such as AdS/CFT, are currently used. Nevertheless experimental characterization is essential to make progress and this can only be done in the laboratory by colliding heavy-ions at ultra-relativistic energies. It is a particularly exciting time in this field. The heavy-ion programme at the LHC has recently commenced, colliding Pb nuclei at the highest possible energies to make the hottest and longest-lived QGP ever created in the laboratory. Data has been taken during two dedicated periods in 2010 and 2011 with the ALICE, ATLAS and CMS detectors, giving many new results. It is therefore opportune to review the status of this field and also its future perspectives, particularly with respect to the planned upgrades of the LHC detectors.
    • 13:30 13:45
      Experimental Studies of the Quark-Gluon Plasma 15m
      Speaker: Peter Braun-Munzinger (GSI - Helmholtzzentrum fur Schwerionenforschung GmbH (DE))
      Slides
    • 13:45 14:30
      The ALICE Upgrade Programme at the LHC 45m
      Speaker: Luciano Musa (CERN)
      Slides
    • 14:30 15:00
      Lattice studies of strongly interacting systems 30m
      Speaker: Chris Allton (University of Swansea (UK))
      Slides
    • 15:00 15:30
      String theory applied to strongly interacting systems 30m
      Speaker: Andrei Starinets (Institute for Advanced Study)
      Slides
    • 15:30 16:00
      Coffee break 30m
    • 16:00 17:00
      Froehlich Lecture: The Quark Gluon Plasma in heavy-ion collisions 1h
      Speaker: Peter Braun-Munzinger (GSI - Helmholtzzentrum fur Schwerionenforschung GmbH (DE))
      Slides