Simulations reveal some of the strongest accelerations ever produced on Earth, opening new avenues for QCD research.

When atomic nuclei smash together at almost the speed of light, their internal matter briefly transforms into quark–gluon plasma, an extremely hot fluid in which quarks and gluons move freely.

Scientists have closely examined the plasma’s intense rotation and electromagnetic fields, but the acceleration driving its rapid expansion has received far less attention. In hydrodynamics, however, acceleration is as fundamental as vorticity, just as electric and magnetic fields are paired in electromagnetism.