Magnetic Fingerprints: STAR Detects Currents in Deconfined Nuclear Matter

Data from heavy ion collisions provide new insights into the electromagnetic properties of quark-gluon plasma “deconfined” from protons and neutrons.

Scientists have uncovered the first direct evidence that the powerful magnetic fields created in off-center collisions of atomic nuclei induce an electric current in “deconfined” nuclear matter. This is a plasma “soup” of quarks and gluons that have been set free, or “deconfined,” from nuclear matter—protons and neutrons—in the particle collisions.