Scientists Recreate Early Universe Matter by Smashing Oxygen Nuclei at Lower Energies

Scientists at Brookhaven National Laboratory's Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) have recreated a primordial state of matter, known as quark-gluon plasma, by colliding oxygen nuclei at substantially lower energies than previously achieved. This finding establishes a new lower boundary for the conditions required to produce this exotic substance, which is believed to have filled the universe shortly after the Big Bang.