PHYSICS 224C

Nuclear Physics III - Experimental High Energy

You can find this page at http://nuclear.ucdavis.edu/~cebra/classes/phys224/phys224c.html

QUARTER: Fall 2008

LECTURES: 432 Phys/Geo, TR 1:10 to 2:30

INSTRUCTOR: Daniel Cebra, 539 P/G, 752-4592, cebra@physics.ucdavis.edu

GRADERS: none

TEXT: No required text. The following could be useful:

R.L Vogt Ultrarelativistic Heavy Ion Collisions

C.Y. Wong Introduction to High-Energy Heavy-Ion Collisions
L.P. Csernai Introduction to Relativistic Heavy Ion Collisions
J. Letessier and J. Rafelski Hadrons and Quark-Gluon Plasma

HOMEWORK: There will be presentations assigned through the quarter.

EXAM: There will be no exams for this course

GRADE DETERMINATION: Grade will be determined presentations and class participation

OFFICE HOURS: Cebra (any time)

Course Overview: The class will be taught as a seminar class. We will alternate between lectures to overview the concepts with readings and discussions of critical papers in the field. There will be no homework assignments, no exams. Students are read the discussion papers ahead and to come prepared for presentations.

Class Outline: The Class will follow the evolution of a relativistic heavy ion collision:

I. Overview and Historical Perspective

a. Hagedorn Bootstrap Model

b. Bjorken energy density

c. Basic Kinematics

II. Quantum Chromodynamics

a. Asymptotic freedom

b. Confinement

c. Chirality

III. Initial Conditions and First Collisions

a. Glauber Model --- pre-collision and initial geometry (impact parameter)

b. Color-Glass Condensate

c. Parton Cascade ---

IV. Quark-Gluon Plasma Formation and Evolution

a. Lattice QCD

b. Hydrodynamics

c. Elliptic flow

V. Probes of the Dense Partonic Phase

a. J/y Suppression and open charm

b. Jets

c. Direct Photons

d. Di-Leptons

VI. Hadronization

a. Recombination vs. Fragmentation

b. Chemical Equilibrium, Chemical freeze-out

c. Strangeness enhancement

VII. Thermal Freeze-out

a. Pion production/Entropy

b. Radial Flow

c. HBT

VIII. Accelerators and Detector for Heavy-Ion Physics

IX. Implications

a. Big Bang Cosmology

b. BBN

c. Supernovae

d. Neutron, Strange, and Quark Stars

Readings/References

TOPIC I: General Overview and Introduction to Relativistic Heavy Ion Physics

Chapter 1 of F. Halzen and A. Martin Quarks and Leptons
Chapter 6 of Perkins and/or any other introduction to QCD
Chapter 2 of Wong kinematic variables

Statistical Thermodynamics of Strong Interactions at high Energies

R. Hagedorn, Suppl. Nuovo Cimento 3, 147, 1965

Very High Energy Collisions of Hadrons
R.P. Feynman, Phys. Rev. Lett.

23, 1415 (1969)

Highly Relativistic Nucleus-Nucleus Collisions: The Central Rapidity Region
J. D. Bjorken, Phys. Rev. D27, 140 (1983)

Lectures given by R. Bellwied at Graduate Summer School, Germany 2004
1,2,3

Lectures given by John Harris at Winter Institute, Lake Louise, 2006
1, 2

The STAR Whitepaper
nucl-ex/0501009

The PHENIX Whitepaper
nucl-ex/0410003

CORE - COmpendium on RElations
hep-ph/9507456

The Physics of Thermal QCD
Smilga, hep-ph/9612347

TOPIC II: Quantum Chromodynamics