High-energy nuclear physics at RHIC and LHC

Abstract

The aim of this project is to provide support for the Brazilian experimental studies of relativistic heavy ion collisions at the STAR/BNL collaboration at RHIC and the ALICE experiment at the LHC/CERN. This long-term project is receiving substantial support for over a decade and, therefore, important results have been obtained. The groups endorsing this project lead most of the activities in this area of research in Brazil and, at the moment, the ALICE/LHC is the only experiment uniquely optimized to carry out research in this area. The study of nuclear collisions at high energies can be considered the main international frontier of nuclear physics, bringing together thousands of experimental and theoretical researchers worldwide. Major advances in the understanding of nuclear matter under extreme conditions have been acquired in the last decade through the experiments at RHIC/BNL. The perspectives regarding the ALICE/LHC experiment are equally promising. The perspective of this project is to provide significant contributions in order to advance the understanding of nuclear matter under extreme conditions of temperature and energy density by studying the evolution of the quark-gluon plasma and the interaction of partons with it. A key aspect that we intend to introduce during the execution of this project corresponds to the transfer of innovative technologies and technological development. The development of instrumentation for the ALICE experiment through the participation update program of the detector, and also the improvement of techniques for distributed data analysis using the Grid environment, will allow this innovation in technology in two strategic areas: instrumentation and information. (AU)