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In particle accelerator: Proton storage rings
The aim is to study quark-gluon plasma, a state of matter that is presumed to have existed in the very early universe.
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In cosmology: Inhomogeneous nucleosynthesis
…a free state as a quark-gluon plasma. As the universe expanded and cooled, this quark-gluon plasma would undergo a phase transition and become confined to protons and neutrons (three quarks each). In laboratory experiments of similar phase transitions—for example, the solidification of a liquid into a solid—involving two or more…
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In subatomic particle: Linking to the cosmos
…state of matter called the quark-gluon plasma. This should have existed for only 10 microseconds or so after the birth of the universe in the big bang, when the universe was too hot and energetic for quarks to coalesce into particles such as neutrons and protons. The quarks, and the…
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