Most models that strive to describe the state of our universe after the Big Bang predict the existence of the quark-gluon plasma microseconds after the beginning of time. High temperatures are thought to have supported a state wherein the constituents of atomic nucleons-quarks and gluons-existed unbound. In an effort to recreate such conditions, researchers earlier collided gold ions using the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) and found that the state of matter they created behaved much more like a liquid than a gas. Now, similar experiments have been carried out using the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) to collide lead ions at even higher energies than those achieved at RHIC. The results were collected and analyzed by two groups.
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