Allgemeines Physikalisches Kolloquium im Wintersemester 2008/2009

Ort:    48149 Münster, Wilhelm-Klemm-Str. 10, IG I, HS 2,
Zeit:    Donnerstag, 6.11.2008 16:00 Uhr c.t.
Kolloquiums-Kaffee ab 15:45 Uhr vor dem Hörsaal

The little bang in the laboratory: creating the quark-gluon plasma
Prof. Dr. Johanna Stachel, Physikalisches Institut, Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg

The theory of strong interaction, Quantum Chromo Dynamics (QCD) predicts that at high temperature and density a new state of matter is created in which the confinement of quarks and gluons is lifted. This state which must have existed in the early universe until about 10 microseconds after the big bang is called the Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP). Since about 20 years experiments are conducted in the laboratory to recreate this state of matter. The understanding is that this is done by colliding heavy atomic nuclei at as high energies as possible. Initially this was done by bombarding stationary targets with beams at the BNL AGS and the CERN SPS and in 2000 the evidence mounted that indeed a new state of matter was created. Since then a dedicated colliding beam accelerator, RHIC at BNL has come into operation. The results at RHIC give very strong arguments in favor of the QGP creation but also indicate that the properties of this state may be quite different from what was initially expected. This talk will review the experimental results and give an outlook to the future experimental program in this field starting at the LHC in the fall of this year.

Der Vortrag findet im Rahmen der Eröffnung der 12. Deutschen Physikerinnentagung 2008 statt.
Grußworte sprechen Prof. Dr. U. Nelles, Rektorin der WWU, Prof. Dr. G. Litfin, Präsident der DPG,  Dr. C. Frantz, Gleichstellungsbeauftragte der WWU und Prof. Dr. J. Wessels, Dekan des FB Physik.


Im Anschluss an den Eröffnungsvortrag sind alle Kolloquiumsgäste zum Eröffnungsempfang der Tagung herzlich eingeladen.