Quarks carry a color charge and nuclear matter is formed from the binding of colored quarks mediated by gluons. Quantum Chromo-Dynamics (QCD) is the theory that describes the interaction of these color charges. Experiments have shown than quarks come in three colors but all nuclear matter is color neutral. Separation of nuclear matter into quarks and gluons needs very large energies similar to what was present in the early universe. Since solving QCD with three colors have proven to be very difficult and since qualitative properties do not depend on the number of colors, an attempt following 't Hooft is made to solve QCD for a very large number of colors. We have already shown that quarks form a colorless condensate and we have also succeeded in computing the properties of the lightest colorless particle - the pion. We will attempt to compute the masses of other heavier colorless particles as part of this proposal. We will also attempt to study the effect of temperature thereby showing evidence for the formation of nuclear matter from a primordial soup of quarks and gluons.
The scientific methods involve analytical calculations and numerical computations. A graduate student and several undergraduate students at FIU will make significant contributions. Large scale computer clusters at national labs will be used for numerical computations and the results obtained as part of this proposal will be presented at international conferences in nuclear and particle physics.
