Investigating small system dynamics with oxygen-oxygen collisions at RHIC

Over the past 25 years, results from RHIC have provided compelling evidence for the creation of a deconfined state of strongly interacting matter, a Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP), in the collision of large nuclei such as Au+Au at √s_NN = 200 GeV. An open question is the minimum system size required to produce a QGP. Recent results from LHC have shown signs of collectivity, a signature of a strongly coupled QGP, in much smaller systems than initially expected, all the way down to p+p collisions. At RHIC, no such signatures have yet been observed in p+p collisions, but collective behavior has been observed in p+Au collisions at √s_NN = 200 GeV. To better understand the dynamics in small systems, a brief run of O+O collisions at √s_NN = 200 GeV was completed at RHIC and recorded by the STAR collaboration. This talk will discuss what has so far been learned from the analyses of these collisions. In addition, the opportunities which would be made available by recording O+O data whith the newly commissioned sPHENIX detector which specializes in measurements of the modification of hard probes by a medium.