- Home
- About Us
- People
- Research
- Research Areas
- Astro Metrology
- Atomic, Molecular & Optical
- Biophysics
- Chemical Physics
- Condensed Matter Experiment
- Condensed Matter Theory
- Cosmic Ray Physics
- Elementary Particles
- Gravitation Experiment
- Gravitational Theory
- High Energy Physics
- Nonlinear Dynamics, Chaos and Complex Systems
- Nuclear Physics
- Particle Astrophysics
- Physics Education Research
- Plasma Physics
- Plasma Theory
- Quantum Science and Technology
- Quarks, Hadrons and Nuclei
- Space Physics
- Centers & Institutes
- Research Areas
- Academics
- Events
- Calendar
- Physics Colloquia
- Event Submission
- W.J. Carr Lecture
- Research Interaction Team (RIT) Math/Physics
- Mechanick Quantum Biology Lecture
- Irving and Renee Milchberg Endowed Lectureship
- Charles W. Misner Endowed Lectureship in Gravitational Physics
- John S. Toll Endowed Lecture
- Prange Prize Lecture
- Maryland Day
- Outreach
- Summer Programs
- CU2MiP
- CUWiP
- Vortex Makerspace
- Services
Krishna Rajagopal, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
October 8, 2013
Before experiments at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider started recreating little droplets of the matter that filled the microseconds-old universe, this stuff was thought to be a tenuous gas-like plasma. Now we know from experiments at RHIC and at the Large Hadron Collider that at these extreme temperatures nature serves up hot quark soup --- the hottest liquid in the universe and the liquid that flows with the least dissipation. The only other comparably liquid liquid is the coldest liquid in the universe, namely the fluid made of trapped fermionic atoms at microKelvin rather than TeraKelvin temperatures. These are two examples of strongly coupled fluids without any apparent quasiparticle description. I will describe how physicists are using RHIC and LHC experiments --- as well as calculations done using dualities between liquids and black holes discovered in string theory --- to discern the properties of hot quark soup.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Colloquia are held Tuesdays in Room 1410 at 4:00 pm (preceded by light refreshments at 3:30). If you have additional questions, please call 301-405-5946.