Physics Colloquium | Answering Big Questions about QCD and Quark Gluon Plasma With New Calorimetry in sPHENIX at RHIC and the ePIC Experiment at the Electron-Ion Collider, Nov 6

The Physics & Astronomy Colloquium Series presents Justin Frantz of Ohio University, discussing "Answering Big Questions about QCD and Quark Gluon Plasma With New Calorimetry in sPHENIX at RHIC and the ePIC Experiment at the Electron-Ion Collider" on November 6. Abstract: The sPHENIX Experiment was built quickly to significantly expand capabilities for QCD jet measurements at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) which recently celebrated its final collisions this past spring 2026. I will discuss aspects of the construction, calibration, performance during data-taking, and now post-RHIC running analysis of sPHENIX and show how some of the latest important goals of the field are being realized with the sPHENIX data. One example of this is new data from Oxygen+Oxygen collisions which are resolving longstanding questions of how small of systems can create Quark Gluon Plasma. Further I will discuss the pursuit of other high and medium energy QCD physics with sPHENIX and the Electron Ion Collider (EIC) facility with its ePIC experiment, the latter currently under construction as a replacement to RHIC, with an emphasis on the special roles that calorimeter-type detectors are playing in these pursuits.