Quark-gluon plasma (QGP), also known as quark soup or quark matter, is a highly energetic state of matter in which quarks and gluons, the fundamental building blocks of matter, are no longer confined within hadrons. In this state, the quarks and gluons interact strongly with each other, forming a nearly perfect fluid that behaves collectively. QGP is believed to have existed in the early universe, just a few microseconds after the Big Bang, when the temperature and density were extremely high.
The study of QGP is of great interest to scientists because it provides insights into the fundamental nature of matter and the strong nuclear force that binds quarks together. Experiments at particle accelerators, such as the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN and the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at Brookhaven National Laboratory, have been designed to create and study QGP by colliding heavy ions at ultra-relativistic energies. These collisions produce conditions similar to those that existed in the early universe, allowing researchers to probe the properties of this exotic state of matter.