The changing scenario of the atomic nucleus—from nucleons and mesons to quarks and gluons

Abstract

The general characteristics of the transition from hadronic matter of nucleons, three quark bags, mesons of quark antiquark pairs to quark gluon plasma is discussed. The phenomenological approach essentially guided by the MIT bag model and general thermodynamic criteria of first-order phase transition is elaborated. The more realistic calculations using the QCD lattice renormalization quark are touched upon. Possible signals of quark-gluon plasma are discussed. The central issue of deciphering plasma signals from the signals of hot hadronic matter is discussed in detail.

The signals of the quark-gluon plasma, a subject of considerable interest in contemporary literature are focussed only on (i) dileptons (ii) photon photon pairs and (iii)J/Ψ suppression (with special emphasis on CERN experiments). The lingering shadow of “EMC” effect is also mentioned.

Relics of the very early universe microseconds after the big bang in today’s universe (∼ 15 billion years later) are discussed. Finally, the outlook of this very exciting field is presented, a purely personal viewpoint, generalized eventually to poetic signals of the creation of the universe.