# Correlation Functions in QCD Matter

> **NSF 01002526DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT** · Texas A&M University (TX) · $230,000

## Abstract

In the early Universe, all matter and radiation was concentrated in an extremely hot and dense fireball that expanded and cooled rapidly. During this evolution, several phenomena occurred that fundamentally shaped the world around us. In particular, during the first few microseconds, a plasma of elementary particles called quarks and gluons prevailed before converting into bound states called hadrons, which ultimately made up the atomic nuclei as we know them today. In this transition, at around two trillion degrees Kelvin, the quarks and gluons were permanently confined into hadrons, thereby generating about 98% of the visible mass in the Universe. The theoretical description of the confinement of quarks and gluons and the generation of hadronic mass remains an outstanding challenge in modern elementary-particle and nuclear physics. High-energy collisions of atomic nuclei can recreate the quark-gluon plasma (QGP) for a short moment in the laboratory, before it decays back into hadrons that can be measured in large detectors. In this project, rigorous theoretical analyses are carried out to deduce the properties of the QGP and its hadronization by analyzing the observed particle spectra.

The goal of this project is to unravel microscopic mechanisms of the QGP-to-hadron transition by evaluating in-medium correlation functions. First-principle information on these is available from the theory of the strong interaction, Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD), using lattice-discretized 

## Key facts

- **NSF award ID:** 2514775
- **Awardee organization:** Texas A&M University (TX)
- **SAM.gov UEI:** JF6XLNB4CDJ5
- **PI:** Ralf F Rapp
- **Primary program:** 01002526DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT
- **All programs:** —
- **Estimated total:** $230,000
- **Funds obligated:** $230,000
- **Transaction type:** Standard Grant
- **Period:** 09/01/2025 → 08/31/2027

## Primary source

NSF Award Search: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2514775

## Citation

> US National Science Foundation, Award 2514775, Correlation Functions in QCD Matter. Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-06-06 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nsf/2514775. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NSF Awards dataset](/datasets/nsf-awards) · CC0 1.0*