Yoctosecond photon pulse generation in heavy ion collisions

Abstract

Heavy ion collisions at RHIC and at the LHC can create the quark-gluon plasma, a state of matter at very high temperatures. Among a plethora of particles that are produced in these collisions, also light is emitted throughout the evolution of the plasma. In this talk, the properties of this light are discussed and related to recent efforts towards shorter and more energetic photon pulses in laser physics. In particular, the time evolution of high-energy photons is studied. These photons originate from Compton scattering of gluons and quark-antiquark annihilation in the plasma. Due to the internal dynamics of the plasma, double pulses at the yoctosecond time scale can be generated under certain conditions. Such double pulses may be utilized for novel pump-probe experiments at nuclear time scales.