Sarah Szabo                     

4x4 in. The possible glasma state--Flux tubes of full gluon saturation. Public collection, RHIC, Brookhaven NY.

Based on experiments at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at Brookhaven, recreating the conditions a micro-micro second after the big bang. Public collection, RHIC, Long Island, NY.

Random arrangement of protons and neutrons inside the colliding nuclei is one reason for initial density fluctuations which expand from coordinate into momentum space. Public collection, RHIC, Long Island, NY.

4 Trillion degrees! Melting of the nuclei in the overlap region, leading to a new state of matter referred to as Quark-Gluon Plasma.

The protons and neutron's constitute quarks and gluons (the carriers of the strong force which holds nucleons and nuclei together) are briefly freed from their eternal confinement.

The quark-gluon plasma begins to cool as it expands. This medium has been found to act more like a liquid than a gas because it is highly interacting and flows collectively. It is represented as red, green, and blue because these colors are used to refer to the charge of the strong force, which has three possibilities, opposed to the electromagnetic which has two, positive and negative.

12x12 in, Oil on Panel Analogous to the density fluctuations in the early universe, which have expanded into the higher gravity area in which matter has coalesced into superclusters of galaxies today.

16x20 in. Canvas on Panel, Acrylic, Oil, Glitter, Acrylic Medium, Decorative Metal Studs, Miniscule Rhinestones. Public collection, RHIC, Long Island, NY.

Radiation of Gluons in Quark-Gluon Plasma 9x12, Etched in textured scratch paper. Public collection, RHIC, Long Island, NY.

Represents the Graph of the the Degrees of Freedom of the thermal system, representing the transition from a gas into Quark-Gluon Plasma. 9x12 in, Etched in textured scratch paper Private collection, New York (I think).

(of Initial Density Fluctuations) Public collection, RHIC, Long Island, NY.

Public collection, RHIC, Long Island, NY.

Quark-Gluon Plasma expanding. The springs represent gluons. After 10x^-23 seconds the quarks become reconfined into a thousands of new particles, created by the unimaginably high energy of these collisions, because energy=mass (E=mc^2). This energy also allows for the creation of heavier generations of quarks, along with their antimatter counterparts, which all recombine into groups of two and threes, creating over 100 types of particles which do not exist in normal matter (atoms).

The particles are highly interacting, creating further new particles (but energy is always conserved). Unusual matter decays very quickly, some many times before hitting the detector. The higher mass quarks are represented by the larger sequins. They are created less frequently due to the large amount of energy required, and are often found in close proximity, in areas of higher energy density. After a certain temperature is reached, particles cease to interact and free stream to the detectors.

Result of a property of the strong force--that it actually increases with distance. Therefor, the further away, the more it is felt. The neuron's hands are a personification of the quark's eternal binding. If a force disrupting them is strong enough, the energy just becomes new particles, still bound together by the strong force. Oil on Canvas, Jewels. 24x36 in. Public collection, RHIC, Long Island, NY.

24x30 in. Springs, Guitar Strings, Wire, Studs, Wooden Stretchers, Metallic Paint. Public collection, RHIC, Long Island, NY.

A particle which consists of a quark and it's anti-quark (anti-matter)--formed in the extreme conditions created in collisions at the particle accelerator. 1x 2 in. Jewels, Wire, and Glitter on Canvas. Public collection, RHIC, Long Island, NY.

Decay of a neutron (bottom red, green, and blue quarks) into a proton (top), via the weak force (represented by wave), releasing an electron (iridescent) and electron anti-neutrino (black)

A particle which consists of three quarks, which maintain color charge (signified by red, green, and blue charge). One can observe virtual quarks surrounding each quark. A proton or neutron are examples of baryons. They are just 2 of over a hundred possible different kinds, however. 1x1 in. Wire, Sequins, and Glitter on Canvas. Public collection, RHIC, Long Island, NY.

9x12 in. Acrylic on Paper in Blacklight Represents a hadron jet (a stream of particles) being suppressed on one end due to the opacity of the Quark-Gluon Plasma.

9x12 in. Acrylic on Paper in Blacklight Shows what is called a three jet event, which is significant because a gluon is observed on its own. A quark and antiquark pair are created, one which splits with a high energy gluon, typically represented by a spring. At each end there are jets of hadrons, further particles created from the energy. The picture on the right represents tracks of particles as observed by a detector. Public collection, RHIC, Long Island, NY.

16x16 in. Oil, Glitter, and Studs on Panel. Public collection, RHIC, Long Island, NY.

Tracks of subatomic particles which have ionized the medium in an early type of particle detector. 9x12 in, Conte Crayon on Pastel Paper