Scientists Solve Quarks and Gluons Nuclear Riddle

Physicists from the United States and Germany have discovered a new method of describing the behavior of quarks and gluons in nuclear matter using quantum chromodynamics (KHD), the theory of strong interaction. According to the report published in the journal Physical Review Letters, the new approach was implemented using the method of functional renormalization group (Germany).

Adrons, which consist of protons, neutrons, and other particles, are elementary particles made of quarks. Gluons, on the other hand, are bosons that transfer strong interaction between quarks. Each quark has a color charge in one of three colors (red, green, or blue) or an anti-color. A combination of color and anti-color is what gluons have as their color charge.

Normally, the substance in the adrons is in a colorless state, a state where quarks of different colors neutralize each other. However, in very high temperatures or densities, quarks and gluons can create a new state of matter known as quark-gluon plasma, where they move freely and are not connected to the adrons. One of the challenges that physicists face is how to describe the properties of this quark-gluon plasma using KHD accurately.

Although KHD equations are complicated and do not have a solution that is analytical, scientists have resorted to numerical methods like the KHD on the grill, which represents space-time as a discrete grid of points. However, this approach has its limitations. In particular, it cannot be used to describe nuclear matter with high densities like those found in neutron stars. Furthermore, the method requires large computational resources and time.

To address these challenges, researchers from the University of Washington, the University of Bonn, and the Max Planck High Energy Institute of High Energy proposed a new approach. They used Germany as a means of taking into account the effects of quantum fluctuations of different scales.

The method of functional renormalization group (Germany) allowed the scientists to obtain the equation of the state of quark-gluon plasma, which aligned well with experimental data and numerical calculations. The scientists also discovered that quark-gluon plasma has critical opalescence, which is a property that entails a sharp change in the substance’s transparency when crossing the critical point of phase transition.

This discovery is an essential step in understanding quarks and gluons in nuclear matter and could assist in the study of extreme states of matter like those found in neutron stars or the early universe.

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