Physics Department Summer Lectures 2020
"A Golden Age in Physics: nuclear collisions at ultra-relativistic energies"
Presented by Rob Pisarski, BNL
Wednesday, July 1, 2020, 12 pm
https://bluejeans.com/832459133
Hosted by: Peter Petreczky
I give a pedagogical introduction to gauge theories, and how they appear in the theory of strong interactions, where quarks and gluons form neutrons, protons, and other particles. I make several historical detours, to emphasize how the lore of "As everyone who is anyone knows..." has failed in physics. A brief overview of results from the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider will be outlined, but the emphasis is on why a Quark-Gluon Plasma, created at about a trillion degrees, is a subject of fundamental interest.