New model of quark-gluon plasma solves a long-standing discrepancy between theory and data

Research in fundamental science has revealed the existence of quark-gluon plasma (QGP)--a newly identified state of matter--as the constituent of the early universe. Known to have existed a microsecond after the Big Bang, the QGP, essentially a soup of quarks and gluons, cooled down with time to form hadrons like protons and neutrons--the building blocks of all matter.