Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider

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RHIC ( Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider , accelerator ring for relativistic heavy ions) is a particle accelerator at the Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton on Long Island ( USA ).

RHIC is used to discover and research the quark-gluon plasma and to research the spin structure of the proton . It is able to collide polarized proton beams with an energy of 200 Giga-electron volts (later 500 GeV) and unpolarized beams of heavier atomic nuclei from deuterium to gold (heavy ions) with an energy of 200  GeV per nucleon pair. RHIC consists of two independent accelerator rings that have a circumference of 3834 m and intersect at six points. Particle collisions take place at these intersection points; this is also where the experiments are located. The first collisions took place in 2000.

In 2011 the heaviest antimatter element to date , anti-helium 4, was generated and observed.

Experiments

Two large experiments are working at RHIC

  • PHENIX (Pioneering High Energy Nuclear Interactions eXperiment) and
  • STAR (Solenoidal Tracker At RHIC),

In addition, there were further, smaller experiments in the first few years when collisions took place at RHIC

literature

  • Star Collaboration, J. Adams et al. a .: Experimental and Theoretical Challenges in the Search for the Quark Gluon Plasma: The STAR Collaboration's Critical Assessment of the Evidence from RHIC Collisions . In: Nuclear Physics A , 757, 2005, pp. 102-183, arxiv : nucl-ex / 0501009
  • Phenix Collaboration, K. Adcox et al. a .: Formation of dense partonic matter in relativistic nucleus-nucleus collisions at RHIC: Experimental evaluation by the PHENIX collaboration . In: Nuclear Physics A , 757, 2005, pp. 184-283, arxiv : nucl-ex / 0410003
  • Miklos Gyulassy , Larry McLerran : New forms of QCD matter discovered at RHIC . In: Nuclear Physics A , 750, 2004, pp. 30-63 arxiv : nucl-th / 0405013

Web links

Commons : Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. Breakthrough in particle physics: Researchers create record antimatter . Spiegel Online , April 24, 2011.