The very hot soup of quarks and gluons

The Phenix collaboration at the RHIC collider (Usa) has measured directly, for the first time, the temperature just after 2 gold nuclei have collided. All the experimental conditions were taken to assure that the temperature measured was that of the quark-gluon plasma. The value of this temperature is 4000*109 K, which is 1.20 as high as the theoretical temperature threshold for the existence of the quark-gluon plasma. It is a proof that the quark-gluon plasma can be created within the operating conditions of the RHIC. (A.C.)