Dr. Igor Shovkovy, Arizona State University
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Abstract: The hot quark-gluon plasma, produced by heavy-ion collisions (or "Little Bangs"), is one of the most exotic states of matter. Not only is it the hottest, but also the most vortical, the most magnetized, and the most ideal fluid, created by humans in a laboratory. The quark-gluon plasma of Little Bangs may also allow unusual macroscopic realizations of the chiral quantum anomaly. In this talk, I will discuss the underlying physics and observable implications of several anomalous properties of the quark-gluon plasma, including the Chiral Separation Effect, the Chiral Magnetic Effect, and the Chiral Magnetic Wave. Interestingly, similar anomalous phenomena can also appear in novel condensed matter materials, known as the Dirac and Weyl semimetals.
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