Early Universe was a liquid: First results from the Large Hadron Collider's ALICE experiment

Early Universe was a liquid: First results from the Large Hadron Collider's ALICE experiment November 23, 2010 Real lead-lead collision in ALICE Enlarge Real lead-lead collision in ALICE (PhysOrg.com) -- In an experiment to collide lead nuclei together at CERN's Large Hadron Collider physicists from the ALICE detector team including researchers from the University of Birmingham have discovered that the very early Universe was not only very hot and dense but behaved like a hot liquid. Ads by Google Short Films on Energy - Watch the Energy Film Series That Will Change the Energy Conversation - RationalMiddle.com By accelerating and smashing together lead nuclei at the highest possible energies, the ALICE experiment has generated incredibly hot and dense sub-atomic fireballs, recreating the conditions that existed in the first few microseconds after the Big Bang. Scientists claim that these mini big bangs create temperatures of over ten trillion degrees. At these temperatures normal matter is expected to melt into an exotic, primordial ‘soup’ known as quark-gluon plasma. These first results from lead collisions have already ruled out a number of theoretical physics models, including ones predicting that the quark-gluon plasma created at these energies would behave like a gas. Although previous research in the USA at lower energies, indicated that the hot fire balls produced in nuclei collisions behaved like a liquid, many expected the quark-gluon plasma to behave like a gas at these much higher energies. Scientists from the University of Birmingham’s School of Physics and Astronomy are playing a key role in this new phase of the LHC’s programme which comes after seven months of successfully colliding protons at high energies. Dr David Evans, from the University of Birmingham’s School of Physics and Astronomy, and UK lead investigator at ALICE experiment, said: “Although it is very early days we are already learning more about the early Universe.” He continues: “These first results would seem to suggest that the Universe would have behaved like a super-hot liquid immediately after the Big Bang.” The team has also discovered that more sub-atomic particles are produced in these head-on collisions than some theoretical models previously suggested. The fireballs resulting from the collision only lasts a short time, but when the ‘soup’ cools down, the researchers are able to see thousands of particles radiating out from the fireball. It is in this debris that they are able to draw conclusions about the soup’s behaviour. Ads by Google Fun Schrodinger's Cat Tee - Rock this tee like Sheldon Cooper, nerdy, awesome and 100% soft cotton - www.snorgtees.com

The ALICE Experiment Physicists working on the ALICE experiment will study the properties, still largely unknown, of the state of matter called a quark-gluon plasma. This will help them understand more about the strong force and how it governs matter; the nature of the confinement of quarks – why quarks are confined in matter, such as protons; and how the Strong Force generates 98% of the mass of protons and neutrons. The ALICE detector is placed in the LHC ring, some 300 feet (100 metres) underground, is 52 feet (16 metres) high, 85 feet (26 metres) long and weighs about 10,000 tons. The ALICE Collaboration consists of around 1000 physicists and engineers from about 100 institutes in 30 countries. The UK group consists of eight physicists and engineers and seven PhD students from the University of Birmingham. It plays a vital role in the design and construction of the central trigger electronics (the ALICE Brain) and corresponding software. In addition, the UK group is making an important contribution to the analysis of ALICE data. During collisions of lead nuclei, ALICE will record data to disk at a rate of 1.2 GBytes (two CDs) every second and will write over two PBytes (two million GBytes) of data to disk; this is equivalent to more than three million CDs (or a stack of CDs (without boxes) several miles high). To process these data, ALICE will need 50,000 top-of-the-range PCs, from all over the world, running 24 hours a day. ALICE utilises state-of-the-art technology including high precision systems for the detection and tracking of subatomic particles, ultra-miniaturised systems for the processing of electronic signals, and a worldwide distribution network of the computing resources for data analysis (the GRID). Many of these technological developments have direct implications to everyday life such as medical imaging, microelectronics and information technology. More information: Two papers detailing this research have been submitted for publication and posted on: xxx.lanl.gov/abs/1011.3914 and xxx.lanl.gov/abs/1011.3916

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Experiments may reveal new state of matter for the 'glue particles', the gluons September 17, 2012 Experiments may reveal new state of matter for the 'glue particles', the gluons Collisions between protons and lead nuclei were established for the first time in the ALICE detector. Such collisions will enable scientists to investigate new aspects of the structure of nuclear particles. (Phys.org)—At the LHC accelerator at CERN, collisions between protons and lead nuclei were established last week, for the first time in the ALICE detector. Ads by Google Fun Schrodinger's Cat Tee - Rock this tee like Sheldon Cooper, nerdy, awesome and 100% soft cotton - www.snorgtees.com "These first tests exceeded all expectations. The performance of the LHC and the ALICE detector is remarkable. Collisions were established in record time and we collected the first collision data during the night, says Professor Jens Jørgen Gaardhøje, at the Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen and adds that the data now will be analyzed at full speed. Collisions between protons and lead nuclei will enable scientists to investigate new aspects of the structure of nuclear particles. "It is of very significant interest to study asymmetric collisions between large nuclei and the much smaller protons", says Jens Jørgen Gaardhøje and explains, that when the protons hit a lead nucleus it 'drills' a hole through the lead nucleus and leaves it relatively unscathed. As the proton cuts through the lead nuclei, the gluons inside the proton and the lead nucleus will collide and produce particles that can be measured in the Alice detector. In this way one can investigate the properties of nuclear matter, without heating it too much, as is done in lead-lead collisions. It is the gluons, which are the bearers of the strong nuclear force, that the researchers are interested in studying. Gluons have the special property that they can interact with each other. This means that gluons may split into several gluons of lesser energy. If this splitting were to continue indefinitely, the nuclear particles would be filled with an infinite number of gluons of infinitely low energy and momentum, Jens Jørgen Gaardhøje explains and says that this is untenable. Fortunately, through the same mechanism gluons may also recombine and fuse together. It is therefore reasonable to assume that a status quo is established, resulting in a universal saturation density of gluons. The resulting state of matter has been dubbed the Color Glass Condensate (CGC). The existence of CGC has not so far been unambiguously demonstrated, but the research group, HEHI at Niels Bohr Institute measured already in 2005 indications that the CGC might be realized. If the CGC exists, it may be an entirely new manifestation of Bose-Einstein Condensates (a situation in which the particles collect in the lowest energy states), in this case governed by the strong interaction. "This nights successful test run at CERN with the ALICE detector is a preparation for the full experimental program scheduled to take place in January-February of 2013. This initial run was so successful, however, that it may already be able to give indications on whether the CGC exists in nature. This state will be very interesting to study and give us new opportunities to understand the properties of saturated gluon matter ", says Jens Jørgen Gaardhøje. The research group, HEHI group atthe Niels Bohr Institute has built a special detector, the Forward Multiplicity Detector (FMD), covering a large kinematical range, that will prove crucial for the investigation of the Color Glass Condensate.

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2012-09-reveal-state-particles-gluons.html#jCp