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Physical Society Colloquium
How relativistic heavy ions can help B. Müller
Department of Physics Life in our universe depends on some amazing coincidences involving the values of seemingly unrelated constants of nature. What is the origin of these miracular coincidences? Modern particle physics suggests that we may live in that one of a multitude of universes, in which the laws of nature are just right for the formation of intelligent life. The Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collider was built to explore the possibility that the laws of nature can be modified, in a well defined sense, by changing the properties of the vacuum state. I will discuss how the RHIC physics program addresses this fundamental issue and what has been learned so far from the experiments.
Friday, November 8th 2002, 15:30 |