This book gives an introduction to main ideas used in the physics of ultra-relativistic heavy-ion collisions. The links between basic theoretical concepts (discussed gradually from the elementary to more advanced level) and the results of experiments are outlined, so that experimentalists may learn more about the foundations of the models used by them to fit and interpret the data, while theoreticians may learn more about how different theoretical ideas are used in practical applications. The main task of the book is to collect the available information and establish a uniform picture of ultra-relativistic heavy-ion collisions. The properties of hot and dense matter implied by this picture are discussed comprehensively. In particular, the issues concerning the formation of the quark-gluon plasma in present and future heavy-ion experiments are addressed.

This thesis provides a comprehensive view of the physics of charmed hadrons in high-energy proton-proton and heavy-ion collisions. Given their large masses, charm quarks are produced in the early stage of a heavy-ion collision and they subsequently experience the full system evolution probing the colour-deconfined medium called quark-gluon plasma (QGP) created in such collisions. In this thesis, the mechanisms of charm-quark in-medium energy loss and hadronisation are discussed via the measurements of the production of charm mesons with (Ds+) and without (D+) strange-quark content in different colliding systems, using data collected by the ALICE experiment at the CERN LHC. The participation of the charm quark and its possible thermalisation in the QGP are studied via measurements of azimuthal anisotropies in the production of D+ mesons. Finally, the prospects for future measurements with the upgraded ALICE experimental apparatus and with more refined machine learning techniques are presented.

This book focuses on new experimental and theoretical advances concerning the role of strange and heavy-flavour quarks in high-energy heavy-ion collisions and in astrophysical phenomena. The topics covered include • Strangeness and heavy-quark production in nuclear collisions and hadronic interactions, • Hadron resonances in the strongly-coupled partonic and hadronic medium, • Bulk matter phenomena associated with strange and heavy quarks, • QCD phase structure, • Collectivity in small systems, • Strangeness in astrophysics,• Open questions and new developments.

This book focuses on new experimental and theoretical advances concerning the role of strange and heavy-flavour quarks in high-energy heavy-ion collisions and in astrophysical phenomena. The topics covered include • Strangeness and heavy-quark production in nuclear collisions and hadronic interactions, • Hadron resonances in the strongly-coupled partonic and hadronic medium, • Bulk matter phenomena associated with strange and heavy quarks, • QCD phase structure, • Collectivity in small systems, • Strangeness in astrophysics,• Open questions and new developments.

Presenting the proceedings of FPCP 2018, this book reviews the status quo of flavor physics and discusses the latest findings in this exciting area. Flavor physics has been instrumental in the formulation and understanding of the standard model, and it is possible that the direction of new physics will be significantly influenced by flavor sector, also known as the intensity frontier, making it possible to indirectly test the existence of new physics up to a very high scale, beyond that of the energy frontier scale accessible at the LHC. The book is intended for academics around the globe involved in particle physics research, professionals associated with the related technologies and those who are interested in learning about the future of physics and its prospects and directions.

This new volume, I/23, of the Landolt-Börnstein Data Collection series continues a tradition inaugurated by the late Editor-in-Chief, Professor Werner Martienssen, to provide in the style of an encyclopedia a summary of the results and ideas of Relativistic Heavy Ion Physics. Formerly, the Landolt-Börnstein series was mostly known as a compilation of numerical data and functional relations, but it was felt that the more comprehensive summary undertaken here should meet an urgent purpose. Volume I/23 reports on the present state of theoretical and experimental knowledge in the field of Relativistic Heavy Ion Physics. What is meant by this rather technical terminology is the study of strongly interacting matter, and its phases (in short QCD matter) by means of nucleus-nucleus collisions at relativistic energy. The past decade has seen a dramatic progress, and widening of scope in this field, which addresses one of the chief remaining open frontiers of Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) and, in a wider sense, the "Standard Model of Elementary Interactions". The data resulting from the CERN SPS, BNL AGS and GSI SIS experiments, and in particular also from almost a decade of experiments carried out at the "Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider"(RHIC) at Brookhaven, have been fully analyzed, uncovering a wealth of information about both the confined and deconfined phases of QCD at high energy density.