Heavy particles, big secrets: what happened immediately after the big burst

The authors have published a comprehensive examination that explores how particles containing heavy quartzs (known as the charm and bottom of the Hadron) are completing each other in a hot, dense environment called Hadron matter. This environment was created in the latest phase of high -energy collisions of atomic nuclei, such as those who take place in a large Hadron collision (LHC) and a relativistic heavy ion collision (RHIC). The new study emphasizes the importance of including Hadron interactions in simulations for precise interpretation of data from experiments in these major scientific infrastructures.

The study expands the perspective on how things behave in extreme conditions and helps to deal with some great unknowns about the origin of the universe.

Reproducing the primordial universe

When two atomic nuclei collide at light speed, they create temperatures more than 1000 times higher than those in the center of the sun. These collisions briefly produce a state of matter called Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP), soup of basic particles that existed microsecunde after a large burst. As this plasma cools, it turns into a Hadron matter, a phase made up of particles such as proton and neutron, as well as other barions and mesons.

The study focuses on what happens with a large passage hadrons (particles containing charmed or background quartzs, such as D and B meson) during this transition and spread of the Hadron phase that follows it.

Heavy particles like probes

Heavy failures are like tiny sensors. Because they are so massive, they are produced immediately after the initial nuclear collision and move more slowly, communicating differently with the surrounding matter. Knowing how they scatter and spread it is crucial to learning about the properties of the media through which they travel.

Researchers have examined a wide range of theoretical models and experimental data to realize how heavy hadtons, such as D and B meson, have a lot of fun with each other with light particles in the Hadron phase. They also examined how these interactions affect visible quantities such as the flow of particles and loss of swing.

“In order to really understand what we see in the experiments, it is crucial to observe how heavy particles move and communicate during the later stages of these nuclear collisions,” says Juan M. Torres-Rerincón, a member of the Quantum Physics and Astrophysics and ICCUB.

“This phase, when the system has already cooled, still plays an important role in the way the particles lose energy and flow together. It is also necessary to get rid of the microscopic and transport properties of these heavy systems exactly at the transition point at the Quark-Gluon plasma,” he continues. “This is the only way to achieve the degree of precision that require current experiments and simulations.”

Simple analogy can be used for a better understanding of these results: when we lower the heavy ball into a crowded pool, even after the biggest waves have scattered, the ball still moves with people. Similarly, heavy particles created in nuclear collisions continue to act with other particles around them, even after the warmest and most comfortable phases. These continuous interactions subtly change the movement of particles, and the study of these changes helps scientists better understand the conditions of the early universe. Ignoring this phase would mean that there is a lack of an important part of the story.

Looking at the future

Understanding how heavy particles behave in a hot substance is fundamental to mapping the properties of the early universe and the fundamental forces that rule it. It also finds the way to the future experiments in lower energy, such as those planned in CERN Super Proton Super Synchrotron (SPS) and Future Fair facility in Darmstadt, Germany. ​​​​​​​