Physicists analyze early universe fluid structure of quark gluon plasma

Matter existed as a trillion-degree plasma of subatomic particles in the first fraction of a second following the Big Bang, Phys.org reported. Quarks and gluons inside this mixture moved at close to the speed of light. Phys.org stated that this plasma state persisted for only a few microseconds before the constituent particles combined to form stable protons and neutrons. [1]

Quark-gluon plasma acts as a extreme liquid state that characterized the early environment of the universe. As FTMQ Science reported earlier, physicists at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN observed individual quarks creating wakes and ripples inside this primordial liquid plasma. That research confirmed that the plasma reached temperatures measured in the trillions of degrees, with constituent particles traveling near the speed of light. [4]

Experimental evidence for the liquid plasma has been gathered from high-speed particle collisions. As FTMQ Science reported earlier, data from the STAR experiment demonstrated that smashing oxygen nuclei together at near light speeds generates a quark-gluon plasma. The STAR experiment team observed energetic particle jets losing energy as they traversed the plasma, with their results published in Physical Review Letters. [3]

In theoretical physics models, fundamental subatomic components are often treated using idealizations. A point particle represents an object whose size, shape, and internal structure are negligible within a given mathematical context. These theoretical point masses and point charges are typically represented mathematically using a Dirac delta function when describing additive physical properties such as total mass or net electric charge. [2]