Can light possess the power to liquefy atoms? This intriguing question challenges our understanding of physics and the fundamental nature of matter. Let's delve into the realm of quantum mechanics and explore the fascinating possibilities.
Photons-the massless particles also known as the quanta of light-are having a moment in physics research
Scientists at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) have recently studied how, imbued with enough energy, photons can bounce off of one another like massive particles do.
- Researchers have also reported seeing photons colliding and converting that energy into massive particles.
The smallest drop
If photonuclear collisions are creating quark-gluon plasma, it’s in the form of a tiny droplet composed of a few vaporized protons and neutrons.
- Scientists hope to study these droplets to learn more about how liquids behave on subatomic scales.
The Large Light Collider
Lead nuclei are made of protons and neutrons, which are made up of even smaller fundamental particles called quarks
- Gluons “glue” small groups of quarks into composite particles called hadrons
- When two lead nuclei collide at high energy inside the LHC, the gluons can lose their grip, causing the protons/neutrons to melt and merge into a quark-gluon plasma
- The now-free quarks/gluons pull on each other, holding together as the plasma expands and cools.
- Eventually, the quarks cool enough to reform into distinct hadrons
A quantum transformation
When matter and antimatter meet, the two particles are destroyed, releasing their energy in the form of photons
- Two photons can interact and create a quark-antiquark pair, which can bind together to make a hadron
- Perepelitsa and his colleagues suspect that the collisions they’ve observed, in which photons appear to be colliding with lead nuclei, are not actually collisions between nuclei and photons but rather, they’re collisions between hadrons
