Abstract
| Quantum chromodynamics (QCD) on the lattice predicts that at
high temperatures and energy densities, hadronic matter undergoes a phase transition
and turns into a state of deconfined quarks and gluons known as quark-gluon
plasma (QGP). This state of matter is typically thought to be created in the collisions
of two heavy nuclei at ultrarelativistic energies, like the ones reached at the
LHC. Despite the multiyear effort, much remains to be learned about parton densities
in nuclei, the search for the possible onset of parton saturation, how the properties
of QGP emerge at a microscopic level from the interactions among the individual
partons and how subsequently vary across its phase diagram. The ATLAS and CMS
Collaborations fully exploit the opportunities offered by high-density QCD studies
with ion and proton beams that allow the study of cold nuclear matter effects, the
onset of nuclear saturation, and long-range correlations. Additionally, experiments
put emphasis on the examination of hadrons at high transverse momentum, fully
reconstructed jets, heavy quarkonia, open heavy flavor particles, and jet quenching.
Altogether, measurements at varying length scales provide quantitative information
about the strongly coupled QGP, complementing the bulk and collective observables
of the soft sector. |