Heavy Ion Physics at RHIC
Abstract
The status of the physics of heavy ion collisions is reviewed based on measurements over the past 6 years from the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at Brookhaven National Laboratory. The dense nuclear matter produced in Au+Au collisions with nucleon-nucleon c.m. energy GeV at RHIC corresponds roughly to the density and temperature of the universe a few microseconds after the `big-bang' and has been described as "a perfect liquid" of quarks and gluons, rather than the gas of free quarks and gluons, ``the quark-gluon plasma" as originally envisaged. The measurements and arguments leading to this description will be presented.
Cite
@article{arxiv.nucl-ex/0702028,
title = {Heavy Ion Physics at RHIC},
author = {M. J. Tannenbaum},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:nucl-ex/0702028},
year = {2008}
}
Comments
31 pages, 23 figures, Proceedings of Symposium "50+ Years of High Energy Physics at UB", University at Buffalo, NY, October 20-21,2006