Theoretical Physics Colloquium: Carlos Salgado

13 Jun 2025
Seminars and colloquia
Time
-
Venue
Lindemann Lecture Theatre
Clarendon Laboratory, Department of Physics, University of Oxford, Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3PU
Speaker(s)

Professor Carlos Salgado, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela

Seminar series
Theoretical physics colloquia
For more information contact

Joy Blanchard at tpadmin@physics.ox.ac.uk

Forming a Quark Gluon Plasma in a few Yoctoseconds

Abstract: Light takes just 3 yoctoseconds to traverse a proton—an ephemeral instant that nonetheless suffices to form a (locally) thermalized QCD medium from the initially out-of-equilibrium system right after a lead–lead collision at the LHC. Over the past two decades, experiments at CERN and Brookhaven National Laboratory have investigated the properties of this quark–gluon plasma, revealing it to be a nearly perfect liquid with the lowest viscosity ever observed in any known substance, and remarkably opaque to fast-moving colored particles. In this talk, I will review the current understanding of this system, with particular emphasis on the time evolution and physical mechanisms through which collective behavior emerges on such ultrashort timescales.