RHIC data reveal intriguing dip in momentum fluctuations in high-density nuclear matter
Scientists using the STAR detector to study particle collisions at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) have found an intriguing dip in their data in a relatively unexplored region of the nuclear phase diagram—a map of how nuclear matter behaves under various conditions of temperature and density. The dip appears in data tracking collision-by-collision variations in the momenta of particles…
Scientists studying particle collisions at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) have discovered an intriguing dip in momentum fluctuations in a relatively unexplored region of the nuclear phase diagram. This dip appears in data measuring collision-by-collision variations in the momenta of particles emerging from gold nucleus collisions at RHIC's lowest collision energies.
The findings, published in Physical Review Letters, suggest that something interesting may be happening in the dense region of the phase diagram where the most energetic collisions occur. A dip in momentum fluctuations, closely tied to temperature, could indicate a change in the way nuclei transform into exotic substances like quark-gluon plasma at low RHIC energies.
RHIC, which operated from 2000 to 2026 at DOE's Brookhaven National Laboratory, was designed to create exotic forms of matter, including quark-gluon plasma and matter approaching neutron star density. Exploring the critical point, a hypothesized boundary where this behavior changes, has been a long-sought goal for physicists. The dip in momentum fluctuations may signal suppressed temperature fluctuations in the phase diagram region studied by the low collision energies—consistent with predictions of the critical-point scenario.
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