Connecting quarks to the cosmos: the role of quark mass
- Physics and Astronomy Colloquium
December 6, 2024 3:30 PM
PAIS 1100
- Host:
- Rouzbeh Allahverdi
- Presenter:
- Dr. Sanjay Reddy (Univ of Washington)
Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) is the theory that governs the interactions of quarks and gluons, with only a handful of free parameters. While the equations of QCD are relatively simple to write, solving them is anything but easy. Yet, much of the complexity we observe in the universe—ranging from atomic nuclei to the extreme environments of neutron stars—is believed to arise from the low-energy dynamics of QCD.
In this talk, I will explore the crucial role of quark mass in low-energy nuclear physics. I discuss the quark mass dependence of the nuclear force and its predictions for three-nucleon interactions in both nuclei and neutron stars, as well as axion condensation in dense matter. I will also discuss how these effects shape the properties of neutron stars and how multi-messenger observations can help us unlock the mysteries of matter at ultra-high densities.
