From Glasma to Quark Gluon Plasma in heavy ion collisions

Understand

When two sheets of Color Glass Condensate collide in a high energy heavy ion collision, they form matter with very high energy densities called the Glasma.

• We describe how this matter is formed, its remarkable properties and its relevance for understanding thermalization of the Quark Gluon Plasma in heavy ion collisions.
• Long range rapidity correlations contained in the near side ridge measured in heavy ion collisions may allow one to directly infer the properties of the Glasma.