Big Adrone Collider (BAC) Discovers Quark-Gluon Plasma
The Big Adrone Collider (BAC), located on the border of Switzerland and France, has been instrumental in studying the fundamental properties of matter and the forces that control it. As the most powerful particle accelerator in the world, the BAC can create clashes of protons with energy up to 13 Teraelectronvolts (TEV), equivalent to the conditions shortly after the Big Bang.
Once a year, the BAC switches from protons to heavier particles – lead ions. By colliding these ions, scientists have the potential to observe a momentary recreation of the early universe, similar to the state that existed just millionths of a second after the Big Bang. This phenomenon involves the formation of a unique substance known as quark-gluon plasma.
Physicists have long known that matter is composed of atoms, which consist of a cloud of electrons surrounding a nucleus comprising protons and neutrons. However, advancements in particle accelerators and cosmic ray research revealed a complex array of additional particles beyond the three basic components. These particles, such as muons, cents, peons, and hyperons, were discovered, suggesting that the universe contains a multitude of basic ingredients.
Further research led physicists to conclude that some of these particles were not elementary, but rather combinations of even smaller particles called quarks. Quarks come in six different “flavors,” with the universe primarily consisting of two types: up quarks and down quarks. Protons consist of two up quarks and one down quark, while neutrons consist of two down quarks and one up quark. The remaining four quark flavors, including strange quarks, charming quarks, beautiful quarks, and top quarks, are progressively more elusive.
However, quarks cannot typically exist independently; they are bound together by gluons. Heating techniques, introduced in the 1970s, allow for the transformation of subatomic particles into a high-energy soup consisting of quarks and even smaller particles called glunes. This breakthrough occurs at the Haedorn temperature, enabling physicists to study the unique state of matter known as quark-gluon plasma.