#quark-gluon plasma

[elementcattos]

Would plasma be like if you melted down a bunch of cattos into a funny slime creature

Plasma is made of ions and free electrons, so it would be more like a bunch of REALLY energetic blob kittens. Here's a fun chart i drew thinking about it lol

I can't find any info on temperatures at which Iron becomes plasma, but if you keep playing with the thermostat & raising the temperature, I think eventually the iron nuclei would start breaking up into smaller chunks until they form ionized Hydrogen. If you're like me and love taking things to the absolute extreme, you can keep going until she breaks up into elementary particles, becoming Quark-Gluon Plasma.

who looks a bit familiar...

[dat-physics-gal]

The fact there's one blue color charge missing is stressing me the fuck out.

Lepton number, bitch, do you conserve it?!

OH NO!! SOMEONE HELP ME PICK UP ALL MY QUARKS, QUICK, THEY'RE LOOSE! This was a Patreon Request

[sbnkalny]

quark-gluon-plasma: 💙 I am a Homecoming dance when it's done A few times, and then you'll be breaking my heart

quark-gluon-plasma: I'm just trying to be a good day 💙

quark-gluon-plasma: Hope You are having a good day 💙

cobblingstones: A lot of people love each Other, the World would be a GOOD day 💙

afloorable: It's this a good day 💙

afloorable: You have a good day 💙

quark-gluon-plasma: It would be a good day 💙

quark-gluon-plasma: You have a Good day 💙

quark-gluon-plasma: 'Twisted Tibias' would be a good day 💙

cobblingstones: 'Twisted Tibias' would be a good idea to leave the room, ganondorf seems to appear Without any fatigue or stress in the morning

afloorable: 'Twisted Tibias' would be a better person

quark-gluon-plasma: 'Twisted Tibias' would be a wild Ride.

cobblingstones: 'Twisted Tibias' would be a good egg and toss their corpses over the side!

[todays-xkcd]

You'd think the most expensive part would be the quark-gluon plasma chamber, but it's actually usually the tube to the top of the atmosphere to carry the cosmic rays down.

Water Filtration [Explained]

Transcript

[An extremely convoluted water filtration system for treating well water with treatments both real and facetious, in the order of: Well water, water softener, reverse osmosis, ultraviolet sterilization, autoclave, condenser, regular osmosis, x-ray sterilization, carbon filter (neutron source) activated carbon filter, gamma ray sterilization, cosmic ray stabilization, electrolysis, oxygen spallation, ionizer, quark-gluon plasma chamber, hydrogenation, nucleosynthesis, reverse electrolysis. To the pure water resulting, "local minerals and probiotics added for taste and to support immune health", labelled well water, is added before being sent to the faucet.]

[polyphonetic]

You are:

[civilotterneer]

Do you have a favorite type of matter beyond the base classical four? (solid, liquid, gas, plasma; though other classical types like mesomorphic states are fair game)

Uuuuhhhhhh......................

That's like, the four states of like everything that's matter, or at least like 99% of it since stars are plasma and are like 99% of all existing matter.

I mean, to get SUPER theoretical, the idea of quark-gluon plasma and strange matter (both things that only exist in the cores of neutron stars) is super interesting. I mean, quark-gluon plasma isn't normal plasma as plasma is just free electrons as far as I remember, where quark-gluon plasma is just matter under so much pressure that quarks are free to roam like plasma electrons.

Strange matter's pretty cool, a form of matter at an even more stable state than any known matter, and it's so stable that it makes things it touches also turn to strange matter as it allows them to reach a new state of minimum energy. The fact that its contained safely within neutron starts and sometimes can erupt out in little stangelets via killanovas, meaning that if the theory of strange matter is correct, that little blobs of death could be flinging around the universe waiting to impact something and convert it into strange matter as well. Cosmically cool and horrifying.

Ok, maybe I just like stuff made from neutron stars. But then again, they are one of the most extreme, non-black hole environments in the universe. Not many other places to get non-standard matter.

[spacescope1]

Journey to the Beginning of the Universe: What We Know and Don’t Know About the Big Bang

Have you ever looked up at the sky and wondered, “How did it all begin?” One of humanity’s greatest questions is the origin of the universe. Stars, galaxies, time even space itself once didn’t exist. So how did everything come to be?

Scientists’ strongest answer to this question is the Big Bang Theory. But contrary to popular belief, this theory doesn’t describe an explosion of something it describes the expansion of space itself. And that changes our entire perspective of the universe.

The Big Bang: The Moment Everything Began

The Big Bang marks the known starting point of the universe. However, despite its name, it wasn't an "explosion" it was the expansion of space itself. The universe didn’t “blow up” from a point of matter; it expanded and gained dimension. Time, matter, energy, and even space itself emerged from this event.

What existed before the Big Bang?According to scientists, this question may have no answer because even the concept of “before” only makes sense after time itself began. If time started with the Big Bang, there technically was no “before.”

At the point where Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity meets modern quantum physics, the universe began with a singularity: a state of infinite density and zero volume. This is a moment when physical laws break down. That’s why science still holds great uncertainty about the universe’s “first moment.”

How Much Does Science Actually Know?

Today, existing data allows us to trace events that happened just seconds after the Big Bang. Here’s what we know about the formation of the universe:

1. Planck Time (10⁻⁴³ seconds) The very first moment of the universe. Quantum gravity dominates, and physical laws break down. Current physics cannot fully explain this era.

2. Cosmic Inflation (10⁻³⁶ to 10⁻³² seconds) The universe expands faster than the speed of light. During this brief phase, its size increases enormously. This theory explains why the universe is homogeneous and flat on large scales.

3. Birth of Fundamental Particles (10⁻⁶ seconds) The universe’s temperature is around a trillion Kelvin. Quarks, gluons, and leptons emerge.

4. Hadron Epoch (1 microsecond) Quarks combine to form protons and neutrons. The universe is a hot, dense plasma.

5. Lepton Epoch (1 second) Electrons and neutrinos dominate. Neutrinos decouple and move freely through space.

6. Nucleosynthesis (3–20 minutes) The universe cools enough for nuclear reactions. Hydrogen, helium, and lithium nuclei form though electrons still don’t orbit atoms.

7. Photon Decoupling (380,000 years) As the universe cools, electrons combine with protons to form atoms. Light is finally able to travel freely: this is the origin of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB). We can still detect this light with telescopes today.

8. First Stars and Galaxies (300 million years later) Gravity causes gas clouds to collapse, forming the first stars. These stars bring light and heavier elements. Galaxies form, and the universe begins to take shape.

What Remains Unknown?

What came before the Big Bang? Still unknown. The idea that time itself began may render this question meaningless.

What triggered the universe’s expansion? The cause of cosmic inflation remains uncertain. Was it quantum vacuum fluctuations? A collision with another universe?

What are dark matter and dark energy? These components are thought to make up 95% of the universe but their true nature is still a mystery.

The Universe’s Story Is Just Beginning…

The Big Bang marks not just the beginning of the universe but our own origins too.

The atoms in our bodies trace back to those early seconds. Every time we look up at the sky, we’re seeing our own history.

Yet many questions remain unanswered:Why does the universe exist at all? Could there be other universes? Is it possible to reverse time?

Perhaps the pursuit of such questions is the most human thing of all.

So, what do you think?

Is the Big Bang the beginning or just one part of a much larger cycle?What cosmic mystery fascinates you the most?

Share your thoughts in the comments.

[cosmogyros]

Something that never fails to crack me up is when I'm speaking English and insert a single German word into the sentence but I forget to change my accent, so I accidentally say the German word with a strong American accent instead of my typical Germanish accent.

I bought some vegan Quark today and told somebody "I'm going to try this Quark" except I pronounced it "quark", as in, quark-gluon plasma. And I'm still giggling about it hours later. I am easily amused.

[materialsscienceandengineering]

How Many States Of Matter Are There?

Let’s talk about states of matter. You know your states of matter don’t you? We have solids, liquids and gasses, and plasmas, quark-gluon plasmas, nuclear matter, bose-einstein condensates, neutronium, time crystals, and sand. Come to think of it, maybe I don’t know my states of matter. Or what a state of matter even is. Let’s see if we can figure it out.

[spacenutspod]

Water is the most common chemical molecule found throughout the entire universe. What water has going for it is that its constituents, hydrogen and oxygen, are also ridiculously common, and those two elements really enjoying bonding with each other. Oxygen has two open slots in its outmost electron orbital shell, making it very eager to find new friends, and each hydrogen comes with one spare electron, so the triple-bonding is a cinch. Hydrogen comes to us from the big bang itself, making it by both mass and number the #1 element in the cosmos. Seriously, the stuff is everywhere. About 75% of every star, every interstellar gas cloud, and every wandering bit of intergalactic space debris never to know the warmth of stellar fusion in 13.8 billion years of cosmic history is made of hydrogen. That hydrogen got its start when our universe was only about ten minutes old, and all the hydrogen that has ever existed (except for random radioactive decays and fission reactions, but that would come later) formed before our universe turned 20 minutes. A dozen minutes, 13.8 billion years ago. When you quench your thirst with a healthy glass, that’s what you’re consuming. We can understand this epoch of cosmic history, known as the nucleosynthesis era, because over the past century we’ve become rather skilled at dealing with nuclear reactions, and in one of the hallmarks of our species we have unleashed this radical understanding into the physical nature of reality and deployed it for both peacetime energy generation and wartime bombs. Our understanding of nuclear physics tells us that earlier than the ten-minute mark, our universe was too hot and too dense for protons and neutrons to form. Instead their subatomic parts, known as quarks, were unglued in a heaving maelstrom of nuclear forces, constantly binding and unbinding in a seething rage-filled sea of gluons, the force carriers of the strong nuclear force. Once the universe expanded and cooled enough, condensates of protons and neutrons formed like droplets on the windowpane, low-energy pockets capable of keeping themselves together despite the temperatures. Eventually, however, as soon as the party got going it fizzled out: when the universe became too large and too cool, a mere dozen minutes later, there wasn’t sufficient density to bring the quarks close enough together to perform their nuclear binding trick. Some protons and neutrons would find each other in those storm-filled days, though, forming heavier versions of hydrogen, some helium, and a small amount of lithium. And since then those hydrogen atoms have wandered about the cosmos; most lost in the intergalactic wastes, some participating in the glorious construction of stars and planets, and a lucky few finding themselves locked in a chemical dance with oxygen. The oxygen has another tale to tell, also a story of fusion, on its way to becoming water. But not the fusion of the first few heady minutes of the big bang, but in the dance within the hearts of stars. There, crushing pressures and violent temperatures slam hydrogen atoms together, forcing them to fuse into helium, in the process releasing an almost vanishingly small amount of energy. But that forced marriage happens millions of times every second, in every one of the trillions upon untold trillions of stars strewn about the cosmos, enough to light up the universe for all conscious observers to enjoy. Near the end of a star’s life, it turns to fusing the built-up ash of helium piled in its core, The fusion of helium produces two products: carbon and oxygen. Now this oxygen would end up forever closed off from the cosmos, locked behind a million-kilometer thick wall of plasma, if it were not for a trick of physics that happens when the star meets its final days. Our Sun will someday experience this fate, about four and a half billion years now. When it grows old and weary, it will swell and turn red, violently spasming as it draws its last fatal breaths. Those gargantuan shudders release material from the star, launching it into the surrounding system, billowed by gusty winds of fundamental particles streaming away at nearly the speed of light. Fit by ragged fit, the Sun will lose its own self, driving away over half its mass into a spreading nebula, the only sign that distant eyes can perceive of yet another noble star laying down its struggle against the all-consuming night. But in that gruesome death, a miracle. The cycle born anew: the hydrogen and helium, the primordial elements of the star, now mixed with carbon and oxygen drift off into the interstellar void, someday to take part in the formation of a new star, a new solar system, a new world wet with water, and, if the chances are perfect, a new life. The post Thirsty? Water is More Common than you Think appeared first on Universe Today.

[retroactivebakeries]

all the catgirl scientists are very impressed and turned on by the quark-gluon plasma slimegirl that fell out of their particle collider. they're all going on about slimegirl deconfinement, but really, she's just colorblind, and very self-conscious about it

[t4tdanvis]

vylad being into archaeology + dante being into space are my new headcanons

its funny because gene knows nothing about any science at all. archaeology is at least comprehensible to him tho - its just like. really old stuff. like ancient civilizations and cool artifacts makes Sense at least. and then dante is just like "so neutron stars right? inside their crust theres possibly this stuff called nuclear pasta-" while gene stares at him like

vylad would most certainly love science, however: what kind of science?

[sbnkalny]

birdship: What if they get out competed unless they got destroyed somehow

birdship: Then it will kill fuck sidomuze and eat them unless they see posts like yours, and feel like shit and youre stronger than GOD

quark-gluon-plasma: Tfw when Rhua tells you that I love them very much But I feel one day they will kill fuck sidomuze and EAT it now, just like me,

willabean: Tfw when Rhua tells you to stop asking questions.

willabean: Tfw when Rhua tells you that there is a small mailbox here.

birdship: Tfw when Rhua tells you to stop asking questions.

birdship: Tfw when Rhua tells you They can earn you millions of years, until that man WAS me.

quark-gluon-plasma: Tfw when Rhua tells you that there would be a smaller lion head that drops out of the sky

quark-gluon-plasma: TFW when Rhua tells you THEY can run eagles can fly real high with his toes to the earth, his head cut from his shoulders and lying on the ground, and who is your favorite

birdship: Tfw when Rhua tells you they can earn you millions of miles away

willabean: Tfw when Rhua tells you they can harness Mel-Kava's internal energy and focus it on invaders

quark-gluon-plasma: Tfw when Rhua tells you to stop asking questions.

birdship: Tfw when Rhua tells you that it's better than the very beginning with its eyes, i have no intention of endangering any of your lives

[spacetimewithstuartgary]

Deciphering the behavior of heavy particles in the hottest matter in the universe

Reproducing the primordial universe

An international team of scientists has published a new report that moves towards a better understanding of the behaviour of some of the heaviest particles in the universe under extreme conditions, which are similar to those just after the big bang. The paper, published in the journal Physics Reports, is signed by physicists Juan M. Torres-Rincón, from the Institute of Cosmos Sciences at the University of Barcelona (ICCUB), Santosh K. Das, from the Indian Institute of Technology Goa (India), and Ralf Rapp, from Texas A&M University (United States).

The authors have published a comprehensive review that explores how particles containing heavy quarks (known as charm and bottom hadrons) interact in a hot, dense environment called hadronic matter. This environment is created in the last phase of high-energy collisions of atomic nuclei, such as those taking place at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). The new study highlights the importance of including hadronic interactions in simulations to accurately interpret data from experiments at these large scientific infrastructures.

The study broadens the perspective on how matter behaves under extreme conditions and helps to solve some great unknowns about the origin of the universe.

Reproducing the primordial universe

When two atomic nuclei collide at near-light speeds, they generate temperatures more than a 1,000 times higher than those at the centre of the Sun. These collisions briefly produce a state of matter called a quark-gluon plasma (QGP), a soup of fundamental particles that existed microseconds after the big bang. As this plasma cools, it transforms into hadronic matter, a phase composed of particles such as protons and neutrons, as well as other baryons and mesons.

The study focuses on what happens to heavy-flavour hadrons (particles containing charmed or background quarks, such as D and B mesons) during this transition and the hadronic phase expansion that follows it.

Heavy particles as probes

Heavy quarks are like tiny sensors. Being so massive, they are produced just after the initial nuclear collision and move more slowly, thus interacting differently with the surrounding matter. Knowing how they scatter and spread is key to learning about the properties of the medium through which they travel.

Researchers have reviewed a wide range of theoretical models and experimental data to understand how heavy hadrons, such as D and B mesons, interact with light particles in the hadronic phase. They have also examined how these interactions affect observable quantities such as particle flux and momentum loss.

“To really understand what we see in the experiments, it is crucial to observe how the heavy particles move and interact also during the later stages of these nuclear collisions”, says Juan M. Torres-Rincón, member of the Department of Quantum Physics and Astrophysics and ICCUB.

“This phase, when the system has already cooled down, still plays an important role in how the particles lose energy and flow together. It is also necessary to address the microscopic and transport properties of these heavy systems right at the transition point to the quark-gluon plasma”, he continues. “This is the only way to achieve the degree of precision required by current experiments and simulations”.

A simple analogy can be used to better understand these results: when we drop a heavy ball into a crowded pool, even after the biggest waves have dissipated, the ball continues to move and collide with people. Similarly, heavy particles created in nuclear collisions continue to interact with other particles around them, even after the hottest and most chaotic phase. These continuous interactions subtly modify the motion of particles, and studying these changes helps scientists to better understand the conditions of the early universe. Ignoring this phase would therefore mean missing an important part of the story.

Looking to the future Understanding how heavy particles behave in hot matter is fundamental to mapping the properties of the early universe and the fundamental forces that rule it. The findings also pave the way for future experiments at lower energies, such as those planned at CERN’s Super Proton Super Synchrotron (SPS) and the future FAIR facility in Darmstadt, Germany.

IMAGE: A new study broadens the horizon of knowledge about how matter behaves under extreme conditions and helps to solve some great unknowns about the origin of the universe. Credit UNIVERSITY OF BARCELONA

[kingme1002]

Quantum computers:

leverage the principles of **quantum mechanics** (superposition, entanglement, and interference) to solve certain problems exponentially faster than classical computers. While still in early stages, they have transformative potential in multiple fields:

### **1. Cryptography & Cybersecurity**

- **Breaking Encryption**: Shor’s algorithm can factor large numbers quickly, threatening RSA and ECC encryption (forcing a shift to **post-quantum cryptography**).

- **Quantum-Safe Encryption**: Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) enables theoretically unhackable communication (e.g., BB84 protocol).

### **2. Drug Discovery & Material Science**

- **Molecular Simulation**: Modeling quantum interactions in molecules to accelerate drug design (e.g., protein folding, catalyst development).

- **New Materials**: Discovering superconductors, better batteries, or ultra-strong materials.

### **3. Optimization Problems**

- **Logistics & Supply Chains**: Solving complex routing (e.g., traveling salesman problem) for airlines, shipping, or traffic management.

- **Financial Modeling**: Portfolio optimization, risk analysis, and fraud detection.

### **4. Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning**

- **Quantum Machine Learning (QML)**: Speeding up training for neural networks or solving complex pattern recognition tasks.

- **Faster Data Search**: Grover’s algorithm can search unsorted databases quadratically faster.

### **5. Quantum Chemistry**

- **Precision Chemistry**: Simulating chemical reactions at the quantum level for cleaner energy solutions (e.g., nitrogen fixation, carbon capture).

### **6. Climate & Weather Forecasting**

- **Climate Modeling**: Simulating atmospheric and oceanic systems with higher accuracy.

- **Energy Optimization**: Improving renewable energy grids or fusion reactor designs.

### **7. Quantum Simulations**

- **Fundamental Physics**: Testing theories in high-energy physics (e.g., quark-gluon plasma) or condensed matter systems.

### **8. Financial Services**

- **Option Pricing**: Monte Carlo simulations for derivatives pricing (quantum speedup).

- **Arbitrage Opportunities**: Detecting market inefficiencies faster.

### **9. Aerospace & Engineering**

- **Aerodynamic Design**: Optimizing aircraft shapes or rocket propulsion systems.

- **Quantum Sensors**: Ultra-precise navigation (e.g., GPS-free positioning).

### **10. Breakthroughs in Mathematics**

- **Solving Unsolved Problems**: Faster algorithms for algebraic geometry, topology, or number theory.