Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider

Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC)
The Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider at Brookhaven National Laboratory.
General properties
Accelerator typesynchrotron
Beam typepolarized p to U ion
Target typecollider
Beam properties
Maximum energy255 GeV per beam (p), 100 GeV/nucleon per beam (Au ions)
Maximum luminosity2.45×1032/(cm2⋅s) (p+p), 1.55×1028/(cm2⋅s) (Au+Au)
Physical properties
Circumference3834 m
LocationUpton, New York
Coordinates40°53′2″N 72°52′33″W / 40.88389°N 72.87583°W / 40.88389; -72.87583
InstitutionBrookhaven National Laboratory
Dates of operation2000 - present

The Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC /ˈrɪk/) is the first and one of only two operating heavy-ion colliders, and the only spin-polarized proton collider ever built. Located at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) in Upton, New York, and used by an international team of researchers, it is the only operating particle collider in the US.[1][2][3] By using RHIC to collide ions traveling at relativistic speeds, physicists study the primordial form of matter that existed in the universe shortly after the Big Bang.[4][5] By colliding spin-polarized protons, the spin structure of the proton is explored.

RHIC is as of 2019 the second-highest-energy heavy-ion collider in the world, with nucleon energies for collisions reaching 100 GeV for gold ions and 250 GeV for protons.[6] As of November 7, 2010, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) has collided heavy ions of lead at higher energies than RHIC.[7] The LHC operating time for ions (lead–lead and lead–proton collisions) is limited to about one month per year.

In 2010, RHIC physicists published results of temperature measurements from earlier experiments which concluded that temperatures in excess of 345 MeV (4 terakelvin or 7 trillion degrees Fahrenheit) had been achieved in gold ion collisions, and that these collision temperatures resulted in the breakdown of "normal matter" and the creation of a liquid-like quark–gluon plasma.[8]

In January 2020, the US Department of Energy Office of Science selected the eRHIC design for the future Electron–Ion collider (EIC), building on the existing RHIC facility at BNL.

  1. ^ M. Harrison; T. Ludlam; S. Ozaki (2003). "RHIC Project Overview". Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research A. 499 (2–3): 235. Bibcode:2003NIMPA.499..235H. doi:10.1016/S0168-9002(02)01937-X.
  2. ^ M. Harrison; S. Peggs; T. Roser (2002). "The RHIC Accelerator". Annual Review of Nuclear and Particle Science. 52: 425. Bibcode:2002ARNPS..52..425H. doi:10.1146/annurev.nucl.52.050102.090650.
  3. ^ E. D. Courant (2003). "Accelerators, Colliders, and Snakes". Annual Review of Nuclear and Particle Science. 53: 1. Bibcode:2003ARNPS..53....1C. doi:10.1146/annurev.nucl.53.041002.110450.
  4. ^ M. Riordan; W. A. Zajc (2006). "The First Few Microseconds". Scientific American. 294 (5): 34A, 35–41. Bibcode:2006SciAm.294e..34R. doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0506-34A. PMID 16708486.
  5. ^ S. Mirsky; W. A. Zajc; J. Chaplin (26 April 2006). "Early Universe, Benjamin Franklin Science, Evolution Education". Science Talk. Scientific American. Retrieved 2010-02-16.
  6. ^ "NP Relativistic Heavy Ion Collid... | U.S. DOE Office of Science (SC)". science.osti.gov. 2022-04-29. Retrieved 2023-03-16.
  7. ^ "CERN Completes Transition to Lead-Ion Running at the LHC" (Press release). CERN. 8 November 2010. Retrieved 2016-11-23.
  8. ^ A. Trafton (9 February 2010). "Explained: Quark gluon plasma". MITnews. Retrieved 2017-01-24.