“Oxygen Collisions at RHIC Reveal Quark-Gluon Plasma, Echoing Early Universe” — what this page in the network covers. New findings from the STAR experiment at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at Brookhaven National Laboratory offer compelling evidence that smashing oxygen nuclei at near-light speeds creates quark-gluon plasma (QGP), the primordial matter that filled the universe microseconds after the Big Bang. Published in Physical Review Letters, the study observed that high-energy particle jets lose energy as they pass through the collision debris—a phenomenon known as jet quenching, considered a key signature of QGP formation.
This marks the first time such evidence has been seen in collisions of small nuclei like oxygen, expanding the range of systems where this exotic state of matter can be studied. The result helps physicists understand how QGP behaves under different conditions, bridging the gap between small and large collision systems. For the complete material, the listing points back to the source inside the network.