TECHQM:About

TECHQM: Theory-Experiment Collaboration for Hot QCD Matter

The goal of TECHQM is to further the understanding of hot QCD matter through detailed, quantitative analysis of heavy ion collision experimental data and theory, together with the dynamical modeling which connects them.

The complex, dynamic nature of a heavy ion collision dictates the need for extensive theoretical modeling as the bridge between experimental observations and underlying properties of the hot QCD Matter. While good progress has been made in this area, providing essential support for interpretation of RHIC data on flow and jet quenching, there are still significant conceptual and modeling uncertainties which limit the accuracy with which conclusions can be drawn about the properties of QCD matter.

In the view of the TECHQM working group, elucidation and reduction of these uncertainties requires coherent, sustained, collaborative effort of experts in all stages of a heavy ion collision. A collaborative effort of theorists and experimentalists, aimed at systematic validation of different approaches to the modeling of heavy ion collisions, will be able to go significantly beyond the scope achievable by individual research groups, which usually concentrate on the development of models for specific collision stages. This is not an issue for the RHIC or LHC communities in isolation in our view, full understanding of the physics at both facilities will require a unified approach, to compare and contrast their results within common calculational frameworks.

The first TECHQM meeting was a held at Brookhaven National Laboratory, May 6-7, 2008: http://www.bnl.gov/techqm/default.asp