Centre of Excellence in Quark Matter

The Centre of Excellence in Quark Matter studies the strong interaction between the fundamental constituents of ordinary matter, quarks and gluons. This interaction is described by the theory of quantum chromodynamics, QCD. The goal of the CoE is to understand how these degrees of freedom become visible in high-energy collider experiments. In particular, the CoE addresses the question of how and when matter turns into a new state of deconfined quark matter, quark-gluon plasma.

The CoE consists of three theoretical and two experimental research teams. The research of the theory teams helps understanding the properties of quarks and gluons using the measurements from the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN and from the world's most powerful microscope whose construction will soon start in the US, the Electron-Ion Collider (EIC). The experimental teams study the properties of the strong interaction as a part of the ALICE collaboration, which operates one of the major LHC detectors.