Overview

"All the matter that we see around us is made up of atoms and can be characterized by its properties. The matter can be categorized into three states: solid, liquid, and gas. For example, ice is solid, the vapour is gas, and water is liquid at the Standard Temperature and Pressure (STP). Some macroscopic observables, such as temperature, pressure, etc., are control parameters. These parameters can be used to describe the properties of matter in thermal equilibrium. The state of matter depends on these control parameters. These different phases of matter in thermodynamics are represented by a graphical representation which is known as ""Phase Diagram"". The phase diagram of water is the most popular and well-known example. Water exists as ice or snow when it is in a solid state. It exists as water vapour or steam in the gaseous state. In addition, water is referred to as ""water"" when it is in its liquid state. Similarly, the properties of nuclear matter, which are controlled by a strong nuclear force, can undergo various phases. The various phases of nuclear matter can be obtained by either heating the nucleons to extremely high temperatures or compressing them to extremely high densities. A relativistic quantum field theory known as Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) describes the strong nuclear force. The primary subject of discussion in heavy-ion physics is the phase diagram of strongly interacting matter. Normal nuclei with a net-baryon density of one contain only protons and neutrons (i.e., nucleons). At moderate temperatures and densities, nucleons are excited to transient states (baryonic resonances) that decay by the emission of mesons. At higher temperatures, baryon-antibaryon pairs are also formed. This mixture of baryons, anti-baryons, and mesons, all of which are strongly interacting particles, is known as hadronic matter or baryonic matter if baryons dominate. When the nuclear matter is heated to extremely high temperatures and compacted to extremely high densities, the hadrons melt and the constituent quarks and gluons form the new phase, the quark-gluon plasma (QGP)."

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