At high energies, the density of gluons inside nucleons grow rapidly, leading to a dense regime where their interactions become non-linear. This phenomenon, known as gluon saturation, is a prediction of QCD and is effectively described by the Color Glass Condensate framework. In this talk, we will explore how saturation manifests in high-energy processes such as deep inelastic scattering,...
In ultraperipheral heavy-ion collisions (UPCs), vector meson photoproduction, e.g. $\rho^{0}$ and $J/\psi$, has been considered one of the most sensitive probes for studying the gluonic structure in heavy nuclei. The linear polarization of the photons involved enables detailed imaging of the nucleus through spin interference effects. Recently, extensive efforts by the STAR experiment at RHIC...
The Backward Hadronic Calorimeter (nHCal, negative-pseudo-rapidity HCal) is a tail catcher sampling calorimeter under development for the Electron-Proton/Ion Collider (ePIC) detector, the first to be built at the Electron Ion Collider. Its purpose is to enhance measurements of diffractive production of vector mesons and dijets in $e+p$ and $e+A$ collisions. These processes probe the partonic...
Femtoscopy—using quantum correlations between particles to study the space-time structure of heavy-ion collisions—remains one of the most sensitive tools for understanding the dynamics of the quark-gluon plasma. Even after years of careful measurements, traditional femtoscopy with pions and kaons continues to reveal unexpected features: subtle distortions caused by residual Coulomb effects...
Thanks to its eycellent vertey reconstruction and particle identification capabilities, the LHCb detector is particularly well-suited for studying the production and polarization of strange particles. Since the origin of hyperon polarization in unpolarized proton-proton and proton-nucleus collisions remains not fully understood, measurements across various collision systems and kinematic...
Chiral matter exhibits unique properties owing to the chiral anomaly. These properties can be observed by studying the propagation and radiation of fast-moving charged particles within the matter. We demonstrate how the chiral anomaly imparts distinctive characteristics on the particle energy loss and its radiation spectrum. Consequently, we argue that quantum tomography emerges as a potent...
Since the early 2000s the Quark Gluon Plasma (QGP) has been studied using relativistic heavy-ion collisions at both the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and the Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collider (RHIC). Detailed comparisons of theoretical predictions with experimental measurements have demonstrated that the QGP acts as a nearly perfect fluid with the smallest shear viscosity to entropy density ratio...
In ultra-relativistic heavy-ion collisions, quarks and gluons become deconfined from hadrons, forming a state of strongly interacting QCD matter known as the quark–gluon plasma (QGP). Recent measurements of the speed of sound in QGP, derived from the multiplicity dependence of mean transverse momentum at fixed volume, offer a direct constraint on its equation of state. This talk will present...
We present an equation of state (EOS) that covers both the hadronic sector of the phase diagram as well as the deconfined sector, where quarks and gluons are the relevant degrees of freedom. This is accomplished through a switching function that enables the transition from the van de Waals Hadron Resonance Gas model, which describes the hadronic phase, to the
Einstein-Maxwell-Dilaton...
At the energies reached in heavy-ion collisions at RHIC, a dense and strongly interacting medium is formed. During the collision, the system reaches a point of maximal compression that may cross the boundary where hadronic degrees of freedom transition into quarks and gluons. This transition modifies the initial conditions of the fireball.
In this talk, I present a simple model of higher...
The location of the conjectured QCD critical point remains one of the key open questions in the phase diagram of strongly interacting matter. While lattice QCD provides strict constraints at vanishing baryon density, the sign problem prevents direct simulations at finite chemical potential. Nevertheless, a growing body of theoretical work—spanning functional methods as well as holographic...
The D-measure of event-by-event net-charge fluctuations was introduced over 20 years ago as a potential signal of quark-gluon plasma (QGP) in heavy-ion collisions, where it is expected to be suppressed due to the fractional electric charges of quarks. Measurements have been performed at RHIC and LHC, but the conclusion has been elusive in the absence of quantitative calculations for both...
The first signals of jet quenching were reported in January of 2001 at the Quark Matter meeting. From the early observations of the suppression of leading hadrons, the quenching of jets has advanced into a mature and extensive field with scores of observables that address almost every aspect of a modified jet. The theory of jet quenching has also advanced from single parton formalisms to...
The sPHENIX experiment at RHIC is the newest heavy ion experiment in the world. It consists of several detector technologies such as barrel calorimeters, including hadronic calorimeters covering the mid-rapidity region for the first time at RHIC, and high-resolution streaming-capable tracking detectors. This enables precision measurements of jets and beauty-hadrons, allowing for the completion...
Dileptons and photons, emitted throughout the evolution of the hot and dense QCD medium in relativistic heavy-ion collisions, serve as an effective probe due to their minimal strong interactions. Precise measurements of the dilepton mass continuum and the direct photon transverse momentum spectrum uniquely enable the extraction of critical medium properties, notably the temperature at various...
Quarkonium serves as a powerful probe for studying the formation and properties of the Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP). In heavy-ion collisions, its production is influenced by an interplay of different effects, including dissociation in the hot medium, recombination of heavy quarks within the QGP, and cold nuclear matter effects arising from the presence of the nuclear environment. Examining...
Quarkonia measurements in heavy ion collisions are ideal probes of the Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP). Their production will be suppressed due to static and dynamical dissociation in the hot and dense medium, which has been suggested as a signature of the formation of the QGP. Besides the dissociation effects, there are other mechanisms, such as the regeneration effect and the cold nuclear effects,...
Open heavy-flavor hadrons, encompassing charm or bottom quarks, serve as crucial probes for examining the quark-gluon plasma (QGP) created in high-energy heavy-ion collisions at LHC. Owing to their large masses and early production in the collision timeline, heavy quarks traverse the medium and retain information about its evolution and transport properties.
The presentation includes...
The study of event-by-event transverse momentum $
