Experiment Creates Quark-Gluon Plasma from Small Oxygen Collisions, Revising Early Universe Models

The STAR experiment at RHIC has produced strong evidence that quark-gluon plasma (QGP), an early universe state of matter, can form from small oxygen nuclei collisions at lower energies than previously believed. Published in Physical Review Letters, this discovery challenges current early-universe physics by showing QGP formation is possible in smaller systems, evidenced by 'jet quenching'.