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Julia Velkovska

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Julia Apostolova Velkovska
Alma materSofia University
Stony Brook University
Scientific career
InstitutionsBrookhaven National Laboratory
Vanderbilt University
ThesisQuasi-fission reaction dynamics (1997)

Julia Apostolova Velkovska is a Bulgarian-American high energy particle physicist who is the Cornelius Vanderbilt Professor of Physics at Vanderbilt University. Her research considers nuclear matter in the extreme conditions generated at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. She hopes that this work will help to explain the mechanisms that underpin the strong force.

Early life and education

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Velkovska was born in Bulgaria. She attended Sofia University, where she majored in physics.[1] After earning her bachelor's degree in 1988, Velkovska joined Stony Brook University for her doctoral research.[1][2] She remained at Stony Brook for a short postdoctoral position, before moving to Brookhaven National Laboratory as an assistant scientist.[1]

Research

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Velkovska's research considers high-energy physics and nuclear matter. Velkovska uses the extreme conditions of the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider to study the mechanisms that underpin the strong force. The strong force is responsible for confining the quarks and gluons in hadrons (e.g. protons and neutrons). At the RHIC, nuclei collide at speeds approaching the speed of light, which forces protons and neutrons to melt into a soup of gluons and quarks.[3] She showed that in these extreme environments, matter exists in a novel phase, with an unexpected increase in the number of protons and anti-protons. The phase, the quark–gluon plasma,[4][5] is expected to be the most hot and dense, and believed to have existed in the first microseconds of the universe. She has investigated how particles interact with the quark–gluon plasma as part of the Pioneering High Energy Nuclear Interaction eXperiment (PHENIX).[3] She investigated the collisions of protons, deuterons and Helium-3 nuclei travelling at nearly the speed of light with gold nuclei.[6][7] After the identification of the quark–gluon plasma,[8] Velkovska worked on improving the detectors of the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider.[9] The most surprising result was that this quark-gluon plasma behaved like a highly coordinated liquid, not a gas.[7] To see what happened at even higher energies, Velkovska studied the quark–gluon plasma at the Large Hadron Collider.[7] Velkovska was at CERN, participating in the CMS experiment, when the discovery of the Higgs boson was announced.[10][11]

In 2018, Velkovska showed that these collisions result in small droplets of almost perfect fluid, i.e. a cohesive liquid that flows at zero viscosity,[12] that emerge in distinctive patterns, including ellipses and triangles.[6] Specifically, she found a correlation between the geometry of the collision and the patterns created, providing evidence for the formation of the quark–gluon plasma irrespective of the environmental conditions.[6] She has studied how these hydrodynamic flow patterns are impacted by the volume and time duration of the collision.[4]

Awards and honors

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Selected publications

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  • S. S. Adler; S. Afanasiev; C. Aidala; et al. (29 March 2004). "Identified charged particle spectra and yields in Au+Au collisions at √(sNN )=200 GeV". Physical Review C. 69 (3). arXiv:nucl-ex/0307022. Bibcode:2004PhRvC..69c4909A. doi:10.1103/PHYSREVC.69.034909. ISSN 2469-9985. Wikidata Q57516210.
  • K. Adcox; S.S. Adler; S. Afanasiev; et al. (August 2005). "Formation of dense partonic matter in relativistic nucleus–nucleus collisions at RHIC: Experimental evaluation by the PHENIX Collaboration". Nuclear Physics A. 757 (1–2): 184–283. arXiv:nucl-ex/0410003. Bibcode:2005NuPhA.757..184A. doi:10.1016/J.NUCLPHYSA.2005.03.086. ISSN 1873-1554. Wikidata Q56442207.
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  • [1] Julia Velkovska Publications

References

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  1. ^ a b c "People". Department of Physics and Astronomy. Retrieved 2022-01-03.
  2. ^ Velkovska, Julia Apostolova (1997). Quasi-fission reaction dynamics (Thesis). OCLC 40391842.
  3. ^ a b "Vanderbilt students selected by the Department of Energy's Office of Science Graduate Student Research Program". Vanderbilt University. June 1, 2021. Retrieved 2022-01-03.
  4. ^ a b "Primordial cosmic soup easier to create than previously thought". Vanderbilt University. October 3, 2017. Retrieved 2022-01-03.
  5. ^ "Scientists discover early universe behaved like a liquid after Big Bang". Vanderbilt University. April 21, 2005. Retrieved 2022-01-03.
  6. ^ a b c "Vanderbilt physicists help find compelling evidence for small drops of perfect fluid". Vanderbilt University. December 10, 2018. Retrieved 2022-01-03.
  7. ^ a b c "World's largest atom smashers create world's smallest droplets". Vanderbilt University. October 2, 2015. Retrieved 2022-01-03.
  8. ^ "Physicists Measure Material Hotter Than the Sun". Vanderbilt University. April 7, 2010. Retrieved 2022-01-03.
  9. ^ a b c "Sloan Foundation awards Vanderbilt physicist for 'exceptional promise'". Vanderbilt University. March 12, 2007. Retrieved 2022-01-03.
  10. ^ "Discovery of new sub-atomic particle a major leap forward". Vanderbilt University. July 6, 2012. Retrieved 2022-01-03.
  11. ^ Chatrchyan, S.; Khachatryan, V.; Sirunyan, A.M.; Tumasyan, A.; Adam, W.; Aguilo, E.; Bergauer, T.; Dragicevic, M.; Erö, J.; Fabjan, C.; Friedl, M.; Frühwirth, R.; Ghete, V.M.; Hammer, J.; Hoch, M. (2012). "Observation of a new boson at a mass of 125 GeV with the CMS experiment at the LHC". Physics Letters B. 716 (1): 30–61. arXiv:1207.7235. doi:10.1016/j.physletb.2012.08.021.
  12. ^ "Fermilab Today: The consistency of quark soup". Vanderbilt University. May 16, 2012. Retrieved 2022-01-03.
  13. ^ "Three junior Vanderbilt faculty win competitive federal grants to support new talent". Vanderbilt University. September 21, 2004. Retrieved 2022-01-03.
  14. ^ "Julia Velkovska". www.nasonline.org. Retrieved 2022-01-03.
  15. ^ "APS Fellow Archive". www.aps.org. Retrieved 2022-01-03.
  16. ^ "Greene and Velkovska named fellows of American Physical Society". Vanderbilt University. January 14, 2015. Retrieved 2022-01-03.
  17. ^ "Chancellor presents top prizes, including new award for excellence in equity, diversity and inclusion research, at fall assembly". Vanderbilt University. August 25, 2016. Retrieved 2022-01-03.
  18. ^ "Vanderbilt honors 29 distinguished faculty with endowed chairs". Vanderbilt University. November 11, 2020. Retrieved 2022-01-03.
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