The Highest Temperature Matter on Earth

As one raises the temperature of matter, one breaks down larger structures into smaller and smaller components. At temperatures above $3 \times 10^{12}$ degrees Fahrenheit, molecules, atoms, nuclei, protons give way to a novel form of matter called the quark-gluon plasma. This plasma, with a temperature more than a million times hotter than the center of our sun, is the form of matter that dominated the early universe shortly after the big bang. In this talk, experiments re-creating this plasma will be described and their surprising results discussed.