Research

Research Interests

Particle Physics, Quantum Field Theory, QCD Phase Diagram, Effective Models

Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) is generally accepted as the correct theory of the strong interactions. The phase diagram of QCD has various phases of QCD as a function of temperature and the baryon chemical potential. Strongly interacting matter which is confined and where the chiral symmetry is broken corresponds to low temperature and small chemical potentials. When this hadronic matter is heated it is expected to undergo a phase transition to a new state called quark-gluon plasma. In this state the quarks are no longer confined in hadrons but can move freely around. The chiral symmetry which was broken at low temperature, is restored in the high temperature quark-gluon phase. In cosmological models, the quark gluon plasma existed in the early universe until a time approximation 10^{-5} seconds after Big Bang. Knowing the properties on this phase is therefore essential to understand the evolution of the early universe. Similarly, when the density is increased one expect that QCD undergoes a phase transition to a state called quark matter in which quarks are no longer confined. If the temperature is sufficiently low, quark matter might also be a colour superconductor. Colour superconductivity is analogous to ordinary superconductivity, but there can be various colour superconducting phases. The phase diagram at high densities is relevant to astrophysics since astrophysical objects such as neutron stars might have a core whose density is several times the density of ordinary nuclear matter.