The Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) was used to search for the formation of hydrodynamic-like excited nuclear medium being created in d+Au collisions. The team, including members of the Heavy Ion Group in the ORNL Physics Division, found near-side azimuthal correlations that are not present in elementary p+p collisions. The pattern they measured could not be an elementary particle process, but is consistent with formation of a hydrodynamic, excited quark-gluon plasma (QGP). This work demonstrates excited medium formation in systems smaller than previously thought possible.
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