Seminar
Title: Energy correlators in heavy ion collisions
Speaker: João Barata (CERN Theory Group)
Host: Prof. Yingying Li (Institute of High Energy Physics, CAS)
Time: April 8, 2026 (Wednesday), 15:00pm Beijing Time
Location: Meeting Room 319, Library Building
Abstract:
In recent years, energy-flow operators have emerged as a common language linking theory and experiment for mapping the dynamics of quantum field theories. In this talk, I will survey how multi-point energy correlators are used to characterize QCD matter in high-energy scattering, with emphasis on heavy ion collisions. I will review the theoretical status of light-ray correlation functions—including factorization, evolution, and medium-induced modifications—and summarize the corresponding experimental measurements. I will then argue that these observables provide controlled access to (non-vacuum) non-trivial quantum states, offering a bridge between collider phenomenology and formal developments in quantum field theory where such states remain poorly understood.
About the speaker:
João Barata completed his graduate studies at the University of Santiago de Compostela between 2019 and 2021. He then joined Brookhaven National Laboratory as a postdoctoral researcher, before becoming a Senior Research Fellow in the CERN Theory Group in 2024. This fall, he will return to Brookhaven to start a junior position in the Nuclear Theory Division as an inaugural Raymond Davis Fellow. His research focuses on the dynamics of high-energy QCD processes in heavy-ion collisions, with particular emphasis on jet physics. In parallel, he is increasingly interested in exploring applications of quantum information science to the study of out-of-equilibrium dynamics in gauge theories.
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