Origin of (Dynamical) Mass in Visible Universe and Hadron Properties in Nuclear ...
Gauge/string duality, hadronic structure and quark-gluon plasma
Grant number: | 13/50841-1 |
Support Opportunities: | Regular Research Grants |
Field of knowledge: | Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Physics |
Agreement: | BAYLAT/StMBW - Bavarian Academic Center for Latin America and Bavarian State Ministry of Science and the Arts |
Principal Investigator: | Gastão Inácio Krein |
Grantee: | Gastão Inácio Krein |
Principal researcher abroad: | Nora Brambilla |
Institution abroad: | Technical University of Munich (TUM), Germany |
Host Institution: | Instituto de Física Teórica (IFT). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de São Paulo. São Paulo , SP, Brazil |
Abstract
Most of the visible matter in the universe is trapped in atomic nuclei. At its most fundamental levei, this matter consists of quarks and gluons that are perrnanently confined in the interior of hadrons, a class of subatomic particles that interact via the strong force, like the proton and neutron. The dynamics of quarks and gluons is described by a quantum field theory known as Ouantum Chromodynamics (OCO), the strongly interacting piece of the Standard Model. It is known that OCO describes strongly interacting matter under the extreme conditions reached in high energy particle collisions, but not much is known on how precisely quarks and gluons are kept permanently confined in the interior of hadrons. Presently, six types (or flavors) of quarks are known, but only two of them, up and down, exist in ordinary matter composed of protons and neutrons. The other quark flavors, strange, charm, bottom, and top, are produced in high energy particle collisions; they are heavier than the up and down quarks and quickly decay. The present project is concerned with hadrons that contain the charm quark. Since the discovery in 1974 of the first hadron containing the quark charm, a series of theoretical and experimental breakthroughs in the area of charmed hadrons have helped to establish asymptotic freedom and ultimately OCO as the fundamental theory of the strong interaction. Asymptotic freedom is a feature of OCO that implies that quarks and gluons interact weakly at very short relative distances. On the other hand, at the confinement scale, where relative distances are of the order of the size of the hadron, quarks and gluons become strongly interacting and new theoretical methods that go beyond weak-coupling expansions need to be invented to deal with OCO phenomena at this scale. Both groups at TUM and 1FT have a long tradition in developing such methods for studying charmed hadrons; while the group at TUM has developed an expertise in rigorous and first-principles methods, the group at 1FT has accumulated experience in the use of effective and phenomenological rnodels. The project will explore the complementary competences of the groups to engage in a collaborative and synergetic effort to explore a relatively new frontier, the study of the structure and interactions of charmed hadrons with ordinary matter composed of protons and neutrons at the confinement scale. The project is quite timely, as a new era of research in hadron physics is envisaged with the exciting possibility of creating exotic nuclear states by implanting charmed hadrons in an atomic nucleus at extant and new experimental facilities that will start operation in the coming years at different places around the world. This will open a new window in the exploration of the terra incognita of the confinement regime of OCO. (AU)
Articles published in Agência FAPESP Newsletter about the research grant: |
More itemsLess items |
TITULO |
Articles published in other media outlets ( ): |
More itemsLess items |
VEICULO: TITULO (DATA) |
VEICULO: TITULO (DATA) |