SIM Strongly Interacting Matter
Matter under extreme condition, quark gluon plasma

Abstract

The aim of the SIM project is to study both theoretically and phenomenologically the strongly interacting matter at very high temperature and density. Particularly, the study of the transition from hadronic matter to the state of matter predicted by the theory of strong interactions, Quantum Chromodynamics and known as Quark Gluon Plasma (QGP) and relevant phenomenology.
As the production of such a state of matter occurs in terrestrial laboratories in relativistic heavy ion collisions and, possibly, in the interior of compact stellar objects, this project has as experimental counterparts the experiments on relativistic heavy ion collisions conducted at the various facilities (RHIC, LHC, FAIR, NICA etc.) as well as astrophysical observations.
The scope of this project includes many topics of hadronic physics which are important baselines for the understanding of the signals of QGP formation, such as soft hadron production and jets production in elementary collisions. A major goal is also to advance in the development of theoretical tools relevant to this phenomenology, such as relativistic statistical mechanics, relativistic hydrodynamics, relativistic kinetic theory, quantum field theory at finite temperature and density. Furthermore, an objective of this collaboration is to develop suitable numerical codes which, in our view, are essential tools to deal with this complex and fascinating phenomenology.
In particular, in a collaboration between the groups of Firenze, Ferrara and Torino, we aim to develop a 3+1D numerical code for relativistic hydrodynamics (ECHO-QGP), including the Israel-Stewart theory of a causal dissipative evolution. The code will be released as a public, state-of-the art tool for analyses in relativistic heavy ion physics.