在大型强子对撞机上探索物质本源的大型重离子实验

A large heavy-ion experiment designed to study origin of matter at the Large Hadron Collider

欧洲核子研究中心的大型重离子实验探测器(ALICE),利用2008年开始运行的大型强子对撞机(LHC),将核物质加热到太阳中心温度的几十万倍,研究在高温高密的极端环境下生成的新物质形态(夸克胶子等离子体或夸克物质)的性质.这样的实验有可能从本源上探索:强作用力如何支配物质结构?夸克作为强作用力的基本量子,如何禁闭于质子和中子内部?夸克作为物质的基本组成单元,质量从何而来?文章介绍了在大型强子对撞机上探索物质本源的大型重离子实验,内容包括:强作用力与夸克模型、渐进自c由与夸克禁闭、重离子碰撞与夸克物质、LHC上的ALICE实验、连通夸克和宇宙.

A large heavy-ion experimental detector （ALICE）, scheduled to start operating at the CERN Large Hadron Collider （LHC） in 2008, has been specifically designed for the harsh environment of nuclear matter where it is more than 100 000 times hotter than the core of the Sun, to study the properties of a new state of nuclear matter, called quark-gluon plasma or quark matter, at velT high temperatures and densities. The experiments will allow us to explore what is the physics of strongly interacting matter, how the quarks are confined inside protons and neutrons, and where the mass of quarks comes from. In this paper we give a brief introduction to the strong interaction and the quark model, asymptotic freedom and quark confinement, high energy heavy - ion collisions and quark matter, the ALICE experiments at the LHC, and the connection between quarks and the cosmos.