Newswise — Zhiwan Xu, a postdoctoral researcher at Argonne, was honored with the award for her innovative work on quantum chromodynamics and the quark-gluon plasma, a state of matter that existed just after the Big Bang.
Zhiwan Xu, a postdoctoral researcher at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory, has been honored with the 2025 Dissertation Award in Nuclear Physics by the American Physical Society (APS) Division of Nuclear Physics.
This honor, endowed in 1985 by members and friends of the APS Division of Nuclear Physics, is given annually to recognize doctoral thesis research of outstanding quality and achievement in the field of nuclear physics.
Xu, who is part of the Medium Energy Physics group at Argonne, is being celebrated for her significant contributions to quantum chromodynamics (QCD). QCD is the theory describing the strong interaction between quarks and gluons, the building blocks of protons and neutrons, which are in turn the building blocks of atomic nuclei. The strong interaction is one of the fundamental forces in nature that acts like a powerful glue that holds these tiny particles inside atoms together.
“This work inspired my passion for nuclear physics and led to my decision to join the Medium Energy Physics group at Argonne, where I could continue exploring the complexities of quantum chromodynamics at the forefront.” — Zhiwan Xu, Argonne postdoctoral researcher
Through innovative methods, Xu was able to access information about the nature of the strong interaction. She accomplished this by separating a very weak signal from a large noisy background while measuring heavy ion collisions with the STAR detector at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at DOE’s Brookhaven National Laboratory. This accomplishment is particularly remarkable as previous attempts by physicists to access this signal have failed, and such a feat was even thought to be impossible.
Her work has helped advance scientists’ understanding of the quark-gluon plasma, a state of matter that existed in the early universe just after the Big Bang. Her research has also provided critical insights into the fundamental forces that govern the behavior of matter at the smallest scales.
Xu’s work in this area began while pursuing her doctorate in physics at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) as part of the university’s membership in the STAR Collaboration. This collaboration, centered around the STAR detector at RHIC, comprises over 600 scientists from more than 55 institutions.
“I am deeply honored to receive the Dissertation Award in Nuclear Physics,” Xu said. “This recognition reflects the collaborative efforts of my mentors at UCLA and colleagues at Argonne and the STAR Collaboration. This work inspired my passion for nuclear physics and led to my decision to join the Medium Energy Physics group at Argonne, where I could continue exploring the complexities of quantum chromodynamics at the forefront.”
Xu’s research as a postdoctoral researcher, conducted at the intersection of experimental and theoretical nuclear physics, exemplifies Argonne’s commitment to pivotal discovery and science at scale. Her work not only enhances the understanding of QCD but also strengthens Argonne’s leadership in nuclear physics research.
As part of the Dissertation Award in Nuclear Physics, Xu delivered an invited talk at the Fall Meeting of the APS Division of Nuclear Physics, Oct. 17-20, in Chicago. The award was formally presented during the meeting, which serves as a platform for the nuclear physics community to celebrate groundbreaking research.
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