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.

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.

Lists citations with abstracts for aerospace related reports obtained from world wide sources and announces documents that have recently been entered into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information Database.

This book gives an overview of relativistic heavy ion physics with particular emphasis on those theoretical approaches which seek an understanding and explanation of the measurements. These approaches try to build a bridge between more basic theories, such as lattice QCD or nucleon-nucleon interactions, and complicated experimental observables involving a large number of particles. Thus, mainly theoretical approaches are discussed here which are strongly and directly related to experiments, and in turn they are phenomenological to some extent. These models use the available information from more complete reaction model describing the whole collision and the observables.It is suitable as a text for advanced undergraduate and graduate students - both experimentalists and theorists - for studies in the field of relativistic heavy ion physics. It may also serve as a handbook where basic concepts of reaction models can be found and the most important references for further reading are provided.

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.

This book represents the proceedings of a symposium held during the centennial meeting of the American Physical Society. It covers the latest results in experimental heavy ion physics from the Alternating Gradient Accelerator in the US and the SpS at CERN, and summarizes the current theoretical and experimental state of the field before the commissioning of RHIC. Among the highlights are the theoretical predictions made for what the experimentalists will see in the high temperature matter expected to be formed at the new machine.