Physicists have discovered a new way to look inside protons using data from smashups of high-energy particles. Their approach uses quantum information science to map how the tracking of particles flowing from electron-proton collisions is affected by quantum entanglement inside the protons. As a result, it became clear that quarks and gluons, the basic building blocks of the proton’s structure, are affected by so-called quantum entanglement.
Data from past proton-electron collisions provide strong evidence that proton quarks and gluon oceans are entangled, which plays a key role in strong force interactions. There is a possibility that there are. Image credit: Valerie Lentz / Brookhaven National Laboratory.
“Until we did this work, no one had observed the internal entanglement of protons in experimental high-energy collision data,” said Brookhaven Laboratory physicist Zhoudunming (Kong) Tu. states.
“For decades, we have had the traditional view of the proton as a collection of quarks and gluons, and we have had many questions about how the quarks and gluons are distributed within the proton, so-called single particles. The focus has been on understanding the nature of
“Now that we have evidence that quarks and gluons are entangled, this situation has changed. We have a much more complex and dynamic system.”
“This latest paper further deepens our understanding of how entanglement affects the structure of protons.”
“Mapping the entanglement between quarks and gluons inside the proton provides insight into other complex questions in nuclear physics, such as how parts of the larger nucleus affect the proton’s properties. There is a possibility that
“This will be one of the focuses of future experiments at the Electron-Ion Collider (EIC), a nuclear physics research facility scheduled to open at Brookhaven Laboratory in the 2030s.”
In their study, Dr. Tu and his colleagues used the language and equations of quantum information science to predict how entanglement would affect particles flowing from collisions between electrons and protons.
Such collisions are a common approach to probing the structure of protons, most recently performed at the Hadron Electron Ring Accelerator (HERA) particle collider in Hamburg, Germany, from 1992 to 2007, and were used to investigate the future EIC. Experiments are also planned.
The equation predicts that if quarks and gluons are entangled, it can be revealed from the entropy of the collision, or disorder.
“Think of a child’s cluttered bedroom with laundry and other things strewn about. Entropy is very high in that cluttered room,” Dr. Tu said.
Calculations show that protons with maximally entangled quarks and gluons (high “entanglement entropy”) should produce a large number of particles with a “random” distribution (high entropy).
“For maximally entangled quarks and gluons, a simple relationship exists that predicts the entropy of particles produced in high-energy collisions,” says the theory, which is affiliated with both Brookhaven Institute and Stony Brook University. said Dr. Dmitri Kharziyev of the house. .
“In our paper, we used experimental data to test this relationship.”
The scientists started by analyzing data from proton-proton collisions at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider, but they also wanted to look at “cleaner” data produced by electron-proton collisions. .
Physicists have cataloged detailed information from data recorded from 2006 to 2007, including how particle production and distributions change, as well as a wide range of other information about the collisions that produced these distributions. It became.
When we compared the HERA data with the entropy calculations, the results were in perfect agreement with our predictions.
These analyzes, including the latest results on how the particle distribution changes at different angles from the point of collision, provide strong evidence that quarks and gluons inside the proton are maximally entangled .
“Unraveling the entanglement between quarks and gluons reveals the nature of their strong force interactions,” Dr. Kharziyev said.
“It could provide further insight into what confines quarks and gluons inside protons, one of the central questions in nuclear physics investigated at the EIC.”
“Maximum entanglement inside the proton appears as a result of strong interactions that produce large numbers of quark-antiquark pairs and gluons.”
of the team work appear in the diary Report on advances in physics.
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Martin Henczynski others. 2024. QCD evolution of entanglement entropy. Progressive member. physics 87, 120501; doi: 10.1088/1361-6633/ad910b
This article is based on a press release provided by Brookhaven National Laboratory.
Source: www.sci.news
