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{{Short description|German-American theoretical physicist}}

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| birth_place = Kraków, Poland| death_date = | death_place = | nationality = US, German| field = Physicist| work_institution = University of Arizona| alma_mater = Johann Wolfgang Goethe University Frankfurt am Main| doctoral_advisor = Walter GreinerVacuum state>Structure of the Vacuum State and Energy in Strong External Field quantum electrodynamics and quantum chromodynamics, Muon-catalyzed fusion, Hadronization and Hagedorn temperature,Deconfinement of quarks (QGP) in relativistic heavy ion collisions, Strangeness as signature of quark–gluon plasma, quark matter

• {{Marriage|Helga Betz|1973|2000|end=died}}
• {{Marriage|Victoria Grossack|2003}}}}| children = Marc Rafelski, Susanne Rafelski| religion = | footnotes =

}}(File:SQMSept2011Day4.jpg|thumb|Johann Rafelski lecturing at the International Conference on Strangeness in Quark Matter in 2011.)Johann Rafelski (born 19 May 1950) is a German-American theoretical physicist. He is a professor of physics at the University of Arizona in Tucson,WEB,facultygovernance.arizona.edu/faculty-senate/roster, Faculty Senate roster, The University of Arizona, live,web.archive.org/web/20191204234450/https://facultygovernance.arizona.edu/faculty-senate/roster, 4 December 2019, 10 March 2020, guest scientist at CERN (Geneva),WEB,inspirehep.net/search?p=678167+or+1762946+or+130439+or+376073+or+193367+or+129292+or+245137+or+625932+or+245141+or+568087+or+921503+or+148258+or+1668194+or+766897+or+250227+or+193585+or+190514+or+143091+or+121911+or+141498+or+141246+or+567607+or+247052+or+568266+or+246859+or+154701+or+213967+or+154705+or+680146+or+246868+or+245717+or+133462+or+203223+or+1223129+or+1190363+or+131296+or+131426+or+1668198+or+1668199+or+1387752+or+248937+or+193392+or+141427+or+1184502+or+567675+or+568316&f=recid, Rafelski’s scientific articles published with CERN affiliation, 10 March 2020, INSPIRE HEP database, and has been LMU-Excellent Guest Professor at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich in Germany.Rafelski’s current research interests center around investigation of the vacuum structure of QCD and QED in the presence of strong fields; study of the QCD vacuum structure and deconfinement with strange particle productionJOURNAL, Rafelski, Johann, Müller, Berndt, Strangeness Production in the Quark–Gluon Plasma, Physical Review Letters, 56, 21, 1986, 2334, 0031-9007, 10.1103/PhysRevLett.56.2334, free, in deconfined quark–gluon plasma formed in relativistic heavy ion collisions; the formation of matter out of quark–gluon plasma in the hadronization process,JOURNAL, Koch, P, Müller, B, Rafelski, J, Strangeness in relativistic heavy ion collisions, Physics Reports, 142, 4, 1986, 167–262, 0370-1573, 10.1016/0370-1573(86)90096-7, 1986PhR...142..167K, 10.1.1.462.8703, also in the early Universe;ARXIV, Fromerth, Michael J., Rafelski, Johann, 2003-04-15, Hadronization of the Quark Universe, astro-ph/0211346, considering antimatter formation and annihilation. He has also contributed to the physics of table top muon-catalyzed fusionJOURNAL, Rafelski, Johann, Jones, Steven E., 1987, Cold Nuclear Fusion, 24979424, Scientific American, 257, 1, 84–89, 10.1038/scientificamerican0787-84, 1987SciAm.257a..84R, 0036-8733, and the ascent of ultrashort laser light pulsesJOURNAL, Cowen, Ron, 2013, Two-laser boron fusion lights the way to radiation-free energy, Nature, 10.1038/nature.2013.13914, 137981473, 0028-0836, as a new tool in this domain of physics. He contributed to understanding of neural nets and artificial intelligenceJOURNAL, Clark, John W., Rafelski, Johann, Winston, Jeffrey V., 1985, Brain without mind: Computer simulation of neural networks with modifiable neuronal interactions, Physics Reports, 123, 4, 215–273, 10.1016/0370-1573(85)90038-9, 1985PhR...123..215C, 0370-1573, showing importance of neural plasticity and “sleep”.

Career

Rafelski studied physics at Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt, Germany, where he received his PhD in the spring of 1973 working with Walter Greiner on strong fieldsJOURNAL, Rafelski, J., Müller, B., Greiner, W., 1974, The charged vacuum in over-critical fields, Nuclear Physics B, 68, 2, 585–604, 10.1016/0550-3213(74)90333-2, 1974NuPhB..68..585R, and muonic atom tests of QED.THESIS, PhD, Rafelski, Johann, Selbstkonsistente Vielteilchengleichungen fur Elektronen und Muonen und ihre Effekte in Muonischen Atomen, Frankfurt University, 1973,inspirehep.net/record/1468116/files/Thesis-1973-Rafelski.pdf, Frankfurt, JOURNAL, Rafelski, Johann, Müller, Berndt, Soff, Gerhard, Greiner, Walter, 1974, Critical discussion of the vacuum polarization measurements in muonic atoms, Annals of Physics, 88, 2, 419–453, 10.1016/0003-4916(74)90177-8, 1974AnPhy..88..419R, In 1973 he began a series of postdoctoral fellowships: first at the University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia) with Abraham Klein, then at the Argonne National Laboratory near Chicago where he worked with John W. Clark of Washington University in St. Louis and Michael DanosWEB,www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/scrc/findingaids/view.php?eadid=ICU.SPCL.MDANOS, Guide to the Michael Danos Papers 1950-2003, lib.uchicago.edu, 2020-03-17, Box 22, folder 8: Rafelski, biographical material and letters of recommendation, 1991, BOOK, Michael Danos, Proceedings of the Symposium on Fundamental Issues in Elementary Matter: 25-29 September 2000, Bad Honnef, Germany : in honor and memory of Michael Danos,books.google.com/books?id=aOsWAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA416, 2001, EP Systema, 978-963-00-5764-6, 416–, of National Bureau of Standards (now NIST).WEB,www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1999-09-03-9909030207-story.html, Theoretical physicist Michael Danos, O’Brien, Margaret, 3 Sep 1999, Chicago Tribune, 2020-03-17, In the spring of 1977, Rafelski moved for a few months to work at the GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research in Germany, then continued on to a fellowship at CERNJOURNAL, The Authors, Scientific American, 241, 6, 1979, 19, 0036-8733, 10.1038/scientificamerican1279-19, 1979SciAm.241f..19., where he worked with Rolf Hagedorn and John S. Bell; Rafelski remains associated with CERN to this day.JOURNAL, Rafelski, Johann, Discovery of Quark–Gluon Plasma: Strangeness Diaries, The European Physical Journal Special Topics, 229, 1, 2020, 1–140, 1951-6355, 10.1140/epjst/e2019-900263-x, 1911.00831, 2020EPJST.229....1R, 207869782, In the fall of 1979 Rafelski was appointed tenured associate professor at Johann Wolfgang Goethe University where he taught for 4 years, while collaborating closely with Hagedorn, Berndt Müller and (:de:Gerhard Soff|Gerhard Soff), whom Rafelski mentored in his PhD work. Rafelski then accepted the chair of Theoretical Physics at the University of Cape Town (South Africa)BOOK, Rafelski, Johann,inspirehep.net/record/1750535/files/Rafelski.pdf, Why and how in theoretical physics : inaugural lecture, University of Cape Town, 1984, 9780799205886, Cape Town, where he created a Theoretical Physics and Astrophysics Institute before moving to The University of Arizona in the fall of 1987. During these years he was also a guest scientist at NIST in Washington, D.C. His interests in muon-catalyzed fusion and other table-top fusion methods led him to a collaboration led by Steven E. JonesJOURNAL, The Authors, Scientific American, 257, 1, 1987, 14–15, 0036-8733, 10.1038/scientificamerican0787-14, 1987SciAm.257a..14., working at the Los Alamos National Laboratory.JOURNAL, Jones, S. E., Palmer, E. P., Czirr, J. B., Decker, D. L., Jensen, G. L., Thorne, J. M., Taylor, S. F., Rafelski, J., Observation of cold nuclear fusion in condensed matter, Nature, 338, 6218, 1989, 737–740, 0028-0836, 10.1038/338737a0, 1989Natur.338..737J, 40352698, The start-up of experimental work on quark–gluon plasma has led to another enduring collaboration with the University of Paris 7-Jussieu involving Jean Letessier.JOURNAL, Rafelski, Johann, Letessier, Jean, Strangeness and quark–gluon plasma, Journal of Physics G: Nuclear and Particle Physics, 30, 1, 2004, S1–S28, 0954-3899, 10.1088/0954-3899/30/1/001, hep-ph/0305284, 2004JPhG...30S...1R, 119326264, Rafelski has remained involved in the study of quark–gluon plasma (QGP) and advancing strangeness production as the pivotal QGP signature,JOURNAL, Quercigh, Emanuele, Rafelski, Johann, 2000, A strange quark plasma, Physics World, 13, 10, 37–42, 10.1088/2058-7058/13/10/35, 125674588, 0953-8585,cds.cern.ch/record/715770, for which the first experimental evidence was announced by CERN in February 2000JOURNAL, Abbott, Alison, CERN claims first experimental creation of quark–gluon plasma, Nature, 403, 6770, 2000, 581, 0028-0836, 10.1038/35001196, 10688162, 2000Natur.403..581A, free, and which has now become a new field of physics.JOURNAL, Torrieri, G., My Strange Times with Johann Rafelski, Acta Physica Polonica B, 43, 4, 2012, 821, 0587-4254, 10.5506/APhysPolB.43.821, 119195994, free, NEWS,www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/01/200131114737.htm, Exploring strangeness and the primordial Universe, 31 January 2020, ScienceDaily, 12 March 2020, This work relates to his long-lasting studies of the structured quantum vacuum,JOURNAL, Fulcher, Lewis P., Rafelski, Johann, Klein, Abraham, 1979, The Decay of the Vacuum, 24965361, Scientific American, 241, 6, 150–159, 10.1038/scientificamerican1279-150, 1979SciAm.241f.150F, 0036-8733, also known as Lorentz Invariant Aether.

Melting Hadrons, Boiling Quarks

Melting Hadrons, Boiling Quarks is a scientific book series edited by Rafelski.BOOK, Melting Hadrons, Boiling Quarks - From Hagedorn Temperature to Ultra-Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collisions at CERN, 2016, Springer International Publishing, 978-3-319-17544-7, Rafelski, Johann, Cham, 2016mhbq.book.....R, 10.1007/978-3-319-17545-4, The first volume of 2016 published as open-access under the Creative Commons license 4.0.WEB, eBooks for all!,home.cern/news/announcement/cern/ebooks-all, 2020-07-13, CERN, is subtitled ‘From Hagedorn Temperature to ultra-relativistic heavy-ion collisions at CERN’, and the volume in preparation was subtitled ‘Quark–gluon plasma discovery at CERN’. In the foreword of the first volume, former director-general of CERN, Herwig Schopper, states that the book fulfills two purposes which have been neglected for a long time. Primarily a festschrift (an ‘honorary book’), it “...delivers the proper credit to physicist Rolf Hagedorn for his important role at the birth of a new research field”; and it describes how a development which he started just 50 years ago is “...closely connected to the most recent surprises in the new experimental domain of relativistic heavy ion physics...”.

Honors, decorations, awards and distinctions

• Fellow of the American Physical Society (2011)WEB,www.aps.org/programs/honors/fellowships/archive-all.cfm?initial=&year=2011&unit_id=&institution=University+of+Arizona, APS fellow archive, American Physical Society, 10 March 2020,
• Foreign member of the Academia Europaea (2021)WEB, Academy of Europe: Rafelski Johann,www.ae-info.org/ae/Member/Rafelski_Johann, 2021-09-16, ae-info.org,
• Honorary member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (2022)BOOK, Freund, Tamás,mta.hu/data/dokumentumok/egyeb_dokumentumok/2022/tagok_2022_NET-2.pdf, A 2022. Évi: Rendes, levelezÅ‘, külsÅ‘ és tiszteleti tagok, Magyar Tudományos Akadémia, 2022, Budapest, 151 (pdf, no printed pagination), hu,

Private life

Rafelski was born in Kraków, Poland, on May 19, 1950. In 1973 Rafelski married Helga Betz, with whom he had two children. Dr. Helga Rafelski died of cancer in 2000. In 2003 Rafelski married the American novelist Victoria Grossack.WEB, Pufeles families,www.ics.uci.edu/~dan/genealogy/Krakow/Families/Pufeles.html, 2021-04-01, ics.uci.edu,

Bibliography

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• 2020: Spezielle Relativitätstheorie heute.BOOK, Spezielle Relativitätstheorie heute : Schlüssig erklärt mit Beispielen, Aufgaben und Diskussionen, Rafelski, Johann, 978-3-662-59419-3, 2020, 10.1007/978-3-662-59420-9, 213477251,
• 2016: Melting Hadrons, Boiling Quarks - From Hagedorn Temperature to Ultra-Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collisions at CERN.
• 2017: Relativity Matters: From Einstein’s EMC2 to Laser Particle Acceleration and Quark–Gluon Plasma.BOOK, Johann, Rafelski, Relativity Matters: From Einstein’s EMC2 to Laser Particle Acceleration and Quark–Gluon Plasma, Springer, 2017, 978-3-319-51230-3,
• 2002: Hadrons and Quark–Gluon Plasma.BOOK, Letessier, Jean, Johann, Rafelski, Hadrons and Quark–Gluon Plasma, 2002, Cambridge University Press, 9780521385367,
• 1996: Die Struktur des Vakuums. Ein Dialog über das ‘Nichts’.BOOK, Johann, Rafelski, Berndt, Müller, Die Struktur des Vakuums. Ein Dialog über das ‘Nichts’, 1996, Deutsch Harri GmbH, 978-3871448881,
• 1992: Spezielle Relativitätstheorie.BOOK, Walter, Greiner, Johann, Rafelski, Spezielle Relativitätstheorie, 1992, H. Deutsch Verlag, 3-8171-1205-X,
• 1985: Quantum Electrodynamics of Strong Fields.BOOK, Walter, Greiner, Berndt, Müller, Johann, Rafelski, Quantum Electrodynamics of Strong Fields, 1985, 978-3-642-82272-8, Springer-Verlag,

References

{{Reflist}}

External links

• Johann Rafelski’s website
• Scientific publications of Johann Rafelski on INSPIRE-HEP
• WEB, Relativity Matters: Interview with Johann Rafelski,alicematters.web.cern.ch/?q=content/node/1077, 13 May 2019, 6 February 2018, Greco, Virginia, Alice Matters, CERN,

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