Unconventional (?) Expectations for the Large Heavy-Ion Collider

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Unconventional (?)Expectations for theLarge
Heavy-Ion Collider

• Berndt Mueller Duke University
• Panel Discussion
• Quark Matter 2008
• Jaipur, India, 2 - 10 February 2008

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Two extreme scenarios

• The SPS discovered the CQGP
• RHIC discovered the BQGP (aka the perfect
  liquid)
• Will the LHC discover the AQGP ?

V. Koch

1. QGP physics at the LHC will be just like RHIC,
   only at higher (initial) energy
   density/temperature and with probes that have a
   (much) larger kinematic range.
2. QGP physics at the LHC will be quite different
   from that seen at RHIC, involving an (initially)
   weakly coupled deconfined phase and an initial
   state dominated by gluon saturation.

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Predicting the future is hard
but we can learn from the past!
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A challenge for us all
Is QGP physics at RHIC and the SPS the same or
different ?
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Dynamic range SPS/RHIC/LHC - (x,t)
Hydro works at RHIC, but does not work at the
SPS. - But
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Dynamic range SPS/RHIC/LHC - (pT)
Jet physics
Statistical hadronization
Recombi-nation
SPS
?
How far in pT does the reco domain extend at LHC?
Will we see jet-jet recombination?
Particle ID up to 30 GeV (?) will be
critical to detailed study of hadronization
dynamics.
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A challenge for theorists
What can we learn about the QGP from N 4 SYM ?

• What are the limits of a toy model of QCD without
  an intrinsic scale ?
• Does the absence of a hadronic phase limit in N
  4 SYM the usefulness of the AdS/CFT duality for
  HI physics ?
• Can this limitation be overcome by introducing a
  confinement scale into the toy model ? Is there
  an effective AdS/CFT type theory that works both,
  at low energy and in the domain relevant for hard
  probes?

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Mach cone in QCD vs. N4 SYM
u 0.99955 c
R.B. Neufeld (preliminary)
Chesler Yaffe arXiv0712.0050
u 0.75 c
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Virtual Journal on QCD Matter

• Digest of preprints on
• hot dense QCD matter
• the QGP
• relat. heavy-ion collisions
• Targeted at graduate students junior postdocs
• Aims to provide a bigger picture, on how
  individual publications shape the advancement of
  the field

http//qgp.phy.duke.edu/