Quark-Gluon Plasma
Within each familiar proton and neutron there is a hive of quarks and
gluons, fluctuating in and out of existence. A striking result is that
quarks and gluons are completely confined within the proton or neutron.
No free quark or gluon has ever been observed. Why quarks and gluons are
confined is not fully understood and is one of the most challenging questions
of current fundamental physics.
My physics research is geared to answering this and other questions about quantum-chromo dynamics (QCD). Our current focus is the quark-gluon plasma, a large volume of a new state of matter should be formed - where quarks and gluons are free to travel across large distances. Such a plasma existed 10 microseconds after the Big-bang, so in many ways we are creating a small volume of the early universe in the lab. More details.
Undergraduate and graduate students interested in this work can contact me at cogilvie@iastate.edu
The experimental equipment we use is the PHENIX detector located at RHIC. PHENIX is a collaboration of over 500 scientists from around the world.
We are planning an silicon vertex tracker upgrade to PHENIX. This will be our major research activity from 2003 to 2008.
One long-term option for the future is to search for a gluon condensate in nuclei using the proposed electron-ion accelrator at BNL.