S.T.A.R. Solenoidal Tracker at RHIC

Ian Dippo

Kurt Semmler

General Information

Located at the Brookhaven National Lab on Long Island, Upton, New York

Began operation in 2000

1 of 4 major components

Sends particles at 99.99% the speed of light

2.4 mile circumference

STAR located at the 6 o’clock position

STAR Research

Solenoidal Tracker at RHIC (Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider)

Massive detector Monitors and identifies ions particles

after collision Over 400 scientists and engineers

from 33 institutions in 7 countries.

Purpose

• Understanding of universe in first moments of creation

• Understanding of physical world• To obtain a fundamental understanding of the

structure of interactions between particles called hadrons, which are made of quarks and gluons.

• To investigate the behavior of matter at high energy densities.

• To look for signs of quark-gluon plasma.

Quark-Gluon Plasma

Inside protons and neutrons Gluons hold quarks

together. Protons always

have two "up" quarks and one "down" quark, while neutrons have two "down" quarks and

an "up" quark.