# QCD matter

The Standard Model (SM) is at the present the most accredited theory for the
description of nature, explaining the existence of elementary particles and their fundamental interactions.
Quantum chromodynamics (QCD) is the gauge theory describing strong interactions between quarks within the Standard Model $U(1)_Y\otimes SU(2)_L\otimes SU(3)_C$ and it is responsible for the $SU(3)_C$ portion.

Strongly interacting particles at very high temperatures and energy densities are expected to compose a new state of matter called quark-gluon plasma (QGP).

To recreate such conditions, head-on collisions between massive ions are made up by particle accelerators.

The main purpose of ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions is the investigation of the QGP. It is believed that such a state could be found in nature in the core of neutron stars and that the very very early Universe was in a QGP state for some instants at around $10^{-6}\ s$ after the Big Bang.

This will be better discussed in the next posts: