This book attempts to cover the fascinating field of physics of relativistic heavy ions, mainly from the experimentalist's point of view. After the introductory chapter on quantum chromodynamics, basic properties of atomic nuclei, sources of relativistic nuclei, and typical detector set-ups are described in three subsequent chapters. Experimental facts on collisions of relativistic heavy ions are systematically presented in 15 consecutive chapters, starting from the simplest features like cross sections, multiplicities, and spectra of secondary particles and going to more involved characteristics like correlations, various relatively rare processes, and newly discovered features: collective flow, high pT suppression and jet quenching. Some entirely new topics are included, such as the difference between neutron and proton radii in nuclei, heavy hypernuclei, and electromagnetic effects on secondary particle spectra.Phenomenological approaches and related simple models are discussed in parallel with the presentation of experimental data. Near the end of the book, recent ideas about the new state of matter created in collisions of ultrarelativistic nuclei are discussed. In the final chapter, some predictions are given for nuclear collisions in the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), now in construction at the site of the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), Geneva. Finally, the appendix gives us basic notions of relativistic kinematics, and lists the main international conferences related to this field. A concise reference book on physics of relativistic heavy ions, it shows the present status of this field.

This volume presents the proceedings of the Workshop on Momentum Distributions held on October 24 to 26, 1988 at Argonne National Laboratory. This workshop was motivated by the enormous progress within the past few years in both experimental and theoretical studies of momentum distributions, by the growing recognition of the importance of momentum distributions to the characterization of quantum many-body systems, and especially by the realization that momentum distribution studies have much in common across the entire range of modern physics. Accordingly, the workshop was unique in that it brought together researchers in nuclear physics, electronic systems, quantum fluids and solids, and particle physics to address the common elements of momentum distribution studies. The topics dis cussed in the workshop spanned more than ten orders of magnitude range in charac teristic energy scales. The workshop included an extraordinary variety of interactions from Coulombic to hard core repulsive, from non-relativistic to extreme relativistic.

Giving an accurate account of the concepts, theorems and their justification, this book is a systematic treatment of perturbative QCD. It relates the concepts to experimental data, giving strong motivations for the methods. Ideal for graduate students starting their work in high-energy physics, it will also interest experienced researchers.

The aim of this book is to offer to the next generation of young researchers a broad and largely self-contained introduction to the physics of heavy ion collisions and the quark-gluon plasma, providing material beyond that normally found in the available textbooks. For each of the main aspects - QCD thermodynamics and global features of the QGP, collision hydrodynamics, electromagnetic probes, jet and quarkonium production, color glass condensate, and the gravity connection - the present volume provides extensive and pedagogical lectures, surveying the present status of both theory and experiment. A particular feature of this volume is that all lectures have been written with the active assistance of selected students present at the course in order to ensure the adequate level and coverage for the intended readership.

Annotation. Text reviews the major topics in Quark-Gluon Plasma, including: the QCD phase diagram, the transition temperature, equation of state, heavy quark free energies, and thermal modifications of hadron properties. Includes index, references, and appendix. For researchers and practitioners.

Introduction to Relativistic Heavy Ion Collisions László P. Csernai University of Bergen, Norway Written for postgraduates and advanced undergraduates in physics, this clear and concise work covers a wide range of subjects from intermediate to ultra-relativistic energies, thus providing an introductory overview of heavy ion physics. The reader is introduced to essential principles in heavy ion physics through a variety of questions, with answers, of varying difficulty. This timely text is based on a series of well received lectures given by Professor L. Csernai at the University of Minnesota, and the University of Bergen, where the author is based.