From vacuum fluctuations to multiparticle production in collisions of ultra relativistic particles

In a typical collision of ultra relativistic particles (eg protons or nuclei) a very large number of hadrons is produced. For example, at the Large Hadron Collider LHC, when two lead nuclei are made to collide at a center of mass energy of 5 TeV per nucleon pair, over 30000 particles, such as protons or pions, are produced. It is a beautiful example of the conversion of kinetic energy into mass.

This talk is aimed at students rather than experts and will address questions such as:

What is the mechanism of multi particle production? What is the space-time evolution of the production process? What are the properties of the quantum chromodynamic medium, named Quark-Gluon Plasma or QGP, which exists between the instant of impact and the final creation of individual hadrons?