ELEMENTARY PARTICLE PHYSICS

The strong interaction, described by the theory of Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD), is crucial for our understanding of the fundamental structure of matter. In this project, a team of researchers, led by Prof. Hartmut Wittig of the University of Mainz, investigates the many facets of QCD in the low-energy regime, which requires a numerical approach. One part of the project is devoted to studying the transition from the common form of matter, hadrons, to a plasma-like phase of the fundamental constituents, i.e. the quarks and gluons. This includes a detailed investigation of the order of the transition in the limit of massless quarks, as well as precise calculations of properties such as the electrical conductivity of the quark-gluon plasma. Another major focus is the investigation of the internal structure of hadrons, which is encoded in so-called form factors. Precise calculations of these quantities often require very large statistics and innovative numerical techniques. Also, in order to help our understanding of the formation of light nuclei in terms of the underlying fundamental theory of QCD, we study the question whether bound states of hadrons, so-called H-dibaryons, can exist.