Universe Colloquium: Strangeness physics in the nuclear enviroment

by Oton Vazquez (TUM)

Wednesday 19 Jun 2013, 16:00 → 17:00 Europe/Berlin

Seminar room, basement (Universe)

Strangeness is somehow hidden in nature, but plays an important role when discussing the QCD phase transitions at high temperature or density. The description of the strong interaction has an important component in the strangenes sector, where a strange (anti-)quark is playing a constituent role, since its mass is about 20 times higher than the up and down, ordinary quarks. Measurements in strangeness physics which will have a very strong impact in the understanding of the strong interaction in the low-energy regime are presented in this colloquium, connecting particle, nuclear and atomic physics, with important implications in astrophysics as well, since neutron stars could contain a large number of strange quarks. In particular, the kaon nucleon-interaction, and its consequences for the change of the properties of the kaon in the medium are studied. The properties of antikaons in the dense nuclear medium have attracted considerable attention due to the possibility of a kaon condensation in dense matter. Neutron stars, with densities extending over several times ρ0, would be the natural enviroment for the kaon condensate. Note that colloquium starts 30 min earlier! The Universe Colloquium is followed by a social gathering with wine and cheese.