In high-energy proton–proton collisions, extreme conditions can produce new forms of matter -- the quark–gluon plasma (QGP). While impossible to measure directly, one of its key traces is the enhanced production of strange particles. While well established in large heavy-ion collisions, there are questions whether QGP-like behaviour can emerge even in much smaller proton collisions. This project studies strangeness production at the STAR experiment to explore this possibility.
Outline:
1. Learn the physics of hadronic collisions (pp, pA, AA) and particle production in QCD.
2. Study strangeness production as a probe of collective behaviour in small systems.
3. Analyse strange particle production (e.g. Λ, K0s) using simulations and/or RHIC data.
4. Investigate how event properties (activity, topology) influence strangeness production.
5. Apply Machine Learning / Deep Learning for particle reconstruction and correction for detector effects.