Heavy-ion collisions - hot QCD in a lab

High-energy heavy-ion collisions provide a unique opportunity to study the properties of the hot and dense strongly-interacting system composed of deconfined quarks and gluons -- the quark-gluon plasma (QGP) -- in laboratory conditions. The formation of a QGP is predicted by lattice QCD calculations as a crossover transition from hadronic matter (at zero baryochemical potential) and is expected to take place once the system temperature reaches values above 155 MeV and/or the energy density above $0.5~\mathrm{GeV}/\mathrm{fm}^{3}$. The nature of such a strongly coupled QGP has been linked to the early Universe at some microseconds after the Big Bang. To characterize the physical properties of the short-lived matter (lifetime of about $10~\mathrm{fm}/c$) experimental studies at Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collider and the Large Hadron collider use auto-generated probes, such as high-energy partons created early in the hadronic collisions, thermally emitted photons, and a set of particle correlations that are sensitive to the collective expansion and the dynamics of the system. The lectures briefly introduced some of the experimental techniques and provided a glimpse at some of the results.Comment: Proceedings of the XIV International Workshop on Hadron Physics, Florianopolis, Brazil, March 201

Evaluation of environmental materials as thermal witness materials

New and complex energetic materials are under development for achieving tunable pyrotechnical events for applications such as neutralization of biological weapons, bunker busters and many others. To guide the development of hybrid materials, the pyrotechnical environment they produce requires higher degree of characterization i.e. good description of spatial and temporal temperature distribution. Temperature measurements in pyrotechnical events are especially challenging, where the temperature of the environment rises more than 2000 K on microseconds to few milliseconds time scale. These environments produce high thermal stress where traditional sensors like thermocouples, optical pyrometers struggle to describe the dynamic changes in the environment. The presented research focuses on the development of thermal witness materials that are injected into the combustion environment, where they travel with the expanding gases and undergo a quantifiable physical change/transformation. The extent of change is determined post exposure and a correlation is made between the extent of observed change and the exposed time-temperature profile. The thermosensors under investigation, Jarosite and silicate glass are materials that are ubiquitous in both urban and rural environments. Jarosites undergo decomposition losing (OH) and SO3 upon thermal exposure. The decomposition mechanism is complex and is governed by a set of serial and parallel reactions. The degree of decomposition depends on the exposed thermal profile, and can be easily determined using thermogravimetric analysis. A correlation is made between the residual decomposition and the experienced environment. The limitations and sensitivity for these sensors are presented. The structures of silicate and borate glasses are strongly dependent on the quench rate during glass formation. As an indicator, the glass transition temperature varies linearly with the logarithm of the quench rate. Structural aspects, specifically the degree of connectedness of network forming units [SiO4] and [BO3] can be investigated using Raman spectroscopy. This allows one to recognize variations in the temperature, and cooling rate experienced by the material as it cooled from the high-temperature environment. The use of these sensors to reconstruct the environment temperature profile is under development. The fundamental idea defining the methodology to recover thermal history is discussed

Sintering Applications

Sintering is one of the final stages of ceramics fabrication and is used to increase the strength of the compacted material. In the Sintering of Ceramics section, the fabrication of electronic ceramics and glass-ceramics were presented. Especially dielectric properties were focused on. In other chapters, sintering behaviour of ceramic tiles and nano-alumina were investigated. Apart from oxides, the sintering of non-oxide ceramics was examined. Sintering the metals in a controlled atmosphere furnace aims to bond the particles together metallurgically. In the Sintering of Metals section, two sections dealt with copper containing structures. The sintering of titanium alloys is another topic focused in this section. The chapter on lead and zinc covers the sintering in the field of extractive metallurgy. Finally two more chapter focus on the basics of sintering,i.e viscous flow and spark plasma sintering

The ALICE experiment -- A journey through QCD

The ALICE experiment was proposed in 1993, to study strongly interacting matter at extreme energy densities via a comprehensive investigation of nuclear collisions at the LHC. Its physics programme initially focused on the determination of the properties of the Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP), a deconfined state of quarks and gluons and was extended along the years, covering a diverse ensemble of observables related to Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD), the theory of strong interactions. The experiment has studied Pb-Pb, Xe-Xe, p-Pb and pp collisions in the multi-TeV energy range, during the Run 1 and Run 2 data taking periods at the LHC (2009-2018). The aim of this review article is to gather and summarise a selection of ALICE physics results and to discuss their implications on the current understanding of the macroscopic and microscopic properties of strongly interacting matter at the highest temperature reached in the laboratory. It will be shown that it is possible to have a quantitative description of the properties of the QGP produced in Pb--Pb collisions. We also show that various features, commonly ascribed to QGP formation, are detected for a wide range of interacting system sizes. Precision measurements of QCD-related observables not directly connected to the study of the QGP will also be discussed. Prospects for future measurements with the ALICE detector and its foreseen upgrades will also be briefly described.Comment: 328 pages, 123 captioned figures, 3 tables, submitted to EPJC, figures at http://alice-publications.web.cern.ch/node/860

Synthesis and analysis of reactive nanocomposites prepared by arrested reactive milling

Different types of reactive nanocomposites have been synthesized by Arrested Reactive Milling (ARM). The technical approach was to increase the interface area available for heterogeneous reaction between solid fuel and oxidizer components. Using aluminum as the main fuel and different metal oxides as oxidizers, highly energetic reactive nanocomposites with different degrees of structural refinement were synthesized. Specifically, stoichiometric Al-MoO3, Al-CuO, and Al-NaNO3 material systems were studied in detail. The correlation of heterogeneous exothermic reactions occurring in the nanocomposite powders upon their heating at low rates and ignition events observed for the same powders heated rapidly was of interest. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and heated filament ignition experiments were used to quantify the ignition kinetics and related reaction mechanisms. Fuel rich Al-MoO3 nanocomposites were also synthesized using ARM. Optimum composition and milling parameters were identified for fuel-rich compositions. Analysis of exothermic reactions in Al-MoO3 system showed that kinetics of such reactions could not be determined by isoconversion processing and respective activation energies could not be meaningfully found as functions of reaction progress. Instead, detailed DSC measurements at different heating rates are required to enable one in developing a multi-step kinetic model to describe such reactions adequately

Modeling ignition and extinction in condensed phase combustion

The characteristics of ignition and extinction in thermites and intermetallics are a subject of interest in developing the latest generation of energetic materials. An experimental “striker confinement” shock compression experiment was developed in the Prof. Glumac’s research group at the University of Illinois to study ignition and reaction in composite reactive materials. These include thermitic and intermetallic reactive powders. We discuss our model for the ignition of copper oxide-aluminum thermite in the context of the striker experiment and how a Gibbs formulation model, that includes multi-components for liquid and solid phases of aluminum, copper oxide, copper and aluminum oxide, can predict the events observed at the particle scale in the experiments. Furthermore, the characteristics of a steady diffusion flame that arises at the interfaces of two condensed phase reactant (titanium-boron) and gas reactant (methane-air) streams that form an opposed counterflow are discussed. In the the gas flow scenario, the asymptotic analysis is carried on both constant and variable density formulations and compared the solutions to those obtained numerically. In the case of condensed phase reactants, several types of analyses are carried out at increasing levels of complexities: an asymptotic analysis valid in the limit of low strain rates (high residence time in the reaction zone), a constant mixture density assumption that simplifies the flow description, diffusion models with equal and unequal molecular weights for the various species, and a full numerical study for finite rate chemistry, composition-dependent density and strain rates extending from low to moderate values

Indexes of the Proceedings for the Ten International Symposia on Detonation 1951-93

The Proceedings of the ten Detonation Symposia have become the major archival source of information of international research in explosive phenomenology, theory, experimental techniques, numerical modeling, and high-rate reaction chemistry. In many cases, they contain the original reference or the only reference to major progress in the field. For some papers, the information is more complete than the complementary article appearing in a formal journal; yet for others, authors elected to publish only an abstract in the Proceedings. For the large majority of papers, the Symposia Proceedings provide the only published reference to a body of work. This report indexes the ten existing Proceedings of the Detonation Symposia by paper titles, topic phrases, authors, and first appearance of acronyms and code names

Space-Cabin Atmospheres: Part II - Fire and Blast Hazards. A Literature Review

The rapid evolution of aircraft and, lately, space vehicles has brought with it the ever-increasing difficulty of designing for prevention of fires and explosions. The present-day sealed cabin with its limited work space, unusual atmospheric constituents, and lack of flexibility in emergency situations has brought new and ill-defined hazards into the picture. In the past, numerous data have been compiled on the fire and explosion characteristics of all things combustible. Unfortunately, much of the material is not pertinent to the actual operational problems in space. The confusion and controversy arising from attempts to evaluate the space-cabin fire problem appear to stem from past failure to compile the scattered data and to expose it to critical review and selection. In the compilation that follows, an attempt has been made to review the best available data that was deemed actually pertinent to the present problem. The effects of unusual atmospheres have been emphasized, but, as will soon be evident, other physical parameters also play a major role in determining the nature of the problem. Chapter 1 contains a discussion of pertinent definitions and theory. This is detailed only to the point of anticipating some of the problems of interpretation that may arise in other chapters of the report. Included in this chapter is speculation on the impact of unusual environmental conditions such as aerodynamic heating, reduced gravitational acceleration, and low ambient pressures. Chapter 2 covers flammable fabrics and carbonaceous solids; Chapter 3, specific fire hazards involving flammable liquids, vapors, and gases; and Chapter 4, electrical fires. Chapter 5 covers the fire, blast, and flash hazards from meteoroid penetration; and Chapter 6, the problems of fire prevention and extinguishment in space cabins. Chapter 7 reviews the factors of fire and blast hazards in selection of a space-cabin atmosphere