Thermalization, hadronization, and entanglement

Theoretical Physics Colloquium by Prof. Berndt Mueller.
This presentation was held live on January 18, 2023 as part of the theoretical physics colloquium series hosted by Prof. Igor Shovkovy at the Arizona State University. The series features high-quality interactive presentations on current advances in theoretical physics by active researchers in the field of theoretical physics.
Abstract for this presentation:
The dual holographic description has enjoyed many successes in explaining fundamental properties of the early stages of relativistic heavy ion collisions up to the formation of a minimal-viscosity quark-gluon fluid. There have been few attempts to extend its application beyond this stage. In my talk I will explore the prospects for such an extension beyond the moment of hadronization. The proposed approach makes use of recent insights into the duality of entanglement properties of field theory states in the edge of Anti-de Sitter space and non-trivial topologies of horizons in the bulk, sometimes referred to as ER = EPR duality. I cover this topic from the point of view of heavy-ion phenomenology, review several relevant concepts, and map out a path toward combining them into a comprehensive, at least semi-quantitative description of relativistic heavy ion collisions. Finally, I will outline possible next steps in this direction.