The Quark–Gluon Plasma

In October 2026 Brookhaven's STAR experiment reported signs of quark–gluon plasma in collisions of small oxygen nuclei, after similar results from CMS and ALICE at CERN. This film explains the fundamentals: quarks and gluons inside protons, why a quark is never seen alone, how heat melts protons into a plasma that filled the early universe, how colliders make it by smashing nuclei at nearly the speed of light, the 'perfect liquid' found at RHIC, temperatures of trillions of degrees, the two signatures, flow and jet quenching, and why a drop made from oxygen is still being debated.

The liquid that filled the universe

What happens when protons melt.

Read the full story as text · อ่านภาษาไทย

This interactive 3D film needs JavaScript. PlanetPast home