CERN team reports quark-gluon plasma signals from lighter-ion collisions

CERN and international collaborators reported signals consistent with quark-gluon plasma after collisions using oxygen-16 and neon-20 nuclei, according to a recent Physical Review Letters article described by WIRED. The nuclei are each less than one-tenth the weight of lead, which had been considered among the lightest elements capable of generating the plasma. Researchers said the matter appeared briefly to expand collectively like a fluid before cooling and returning to particles. The experiment is intended to probe the conditions under which this extreme state of matter forms.