Quark-Gluon Plasma

An exotic type of matter, thought to have existed ten millionths of a second after the Big Bang at the dawn of the universe. In QGP, the individual protons and neutrons of atomic nuclei will overlap, creating an enormously energetic area where, for a brief time, a relatively large number of free quarks and gluons can exist outside hadronic structures. Currently this type of matter only exists naturally in the cores of very dense stars, such as neutron stars.