Quark Nuggets

Speaker: Yang Bai

Date: Monday, May 13, 2024

Time: 4:00 – 5:00 pm

Location: 472 Willamette Hall

Abstract: A while ago, the concept of quark nuggets was proposed as the potential “ground state” of QCD, characterized by a mass per baryon number lighter than iron and cosmological stability. In this talk, I will begin by utilizing the coincidence of dark matter and ordinary matter energy densities to advocate for the plausibility of quark nuggets as a dark matter candidate. Subsequently, I will explore the extension of standard cosmology necessary for the primordial formation of quark nuggets. Additionally, I will discuss existing and ongoing experimental efforts aimed at detecting quark nuggets. Furthermore, I will present some results from ongoing studies of the radioactivity of quark nuggets, which may lead to their detection from neutron star merger events in the near future.

Host: Pouya Asadi