Collider Study Recreates Early-Universe Matter, Reveals an Unexpected Shift in Particle Behavior
A new heavy-ion experiment at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider has recreated conditions similar to the universe’s first microseconds, when matter existed as an ultra-hot quark-gluon plasma. Researchers say the data show an unexpected decline in particle correlations in gold-ion collisions, a result that could sharpen understanding of how ordinary matter formed after the Big Bang. The finding adds a fresh twist to a field central to fundamental physics and to the long-running effort to map the universe’s earliest state.
