Barbara Jacak (LBNL/UCB) "The Mysteries of QCD Matter – Hot and Cold"

ABSTRACT:
QCD predicts a phase transition to quark gluon plasma. This plasma is now produced regularly in collisions of heavy nuclei at both RHIC and the LHC, and it exhibits remarkable properties. Its vanishingly small shear viscosity to entropy density ratio means that it flows essentially without internal friction, making it one of the most “perfect” liquids known. Quark gluon plasma is also very opaque to transiting strongly interacting particles. Determining the transport properties of quark gluon plasma is a key goal of current research, and jets of hadrons offer a promising probe. Howevere, it remains a mystery how this plasma emerges from cold, dense gluonic matter deep inside nuclei within 1 fm/c. Furthermore, properties of the cold QCD matter deep inside nuclei are unknown. I will discuss how a future electron-ion collider can help address these questions.