Physics Aspects of the CERN Heavy-Ion Programme

Statistical calculations within the Standard Model indicate that at extremely high densities the quarks and gluons will become deconfined, leading to a new state of matter, the so-called Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP). Recently it was announced at CERN that compelling evidence has been obtained from experimental data that indeed the formation of a deconfined state has been achieved in very energetic collisions of heavy nuclei. In this presentation I will provide an overview of the main aspects of heavy-ion physics and will address the various observations which indicate the possible creation of a deconfined state. To enable a systematic study of the QGP state, a combined measurement of the various observables is needed. It will be shown how this can be realised within the ALICE experiment at the future LHC collider.