Related papers: High Energy Nuclear Collisions
The ATLAS collaboration has significant interest in the physics of ultra-relativistic heavy ion collisions. We submitted a Letter of Intent to the United States Department of Energy in March 2002. The following document is a slightly…
A new experiemntal program to study hadron production in hadron-nucleus and nucleus-nucleus collisions at the CERN SPS has been recently proposed by the NA49-future collaboration. The physics goals of the program are: (i) search for the…
The capabilities of the CMS experiment to explore the rich heavy-ion physics programme offered by the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC) are summarised. Various representative measurements in Pb-Pb collisions at sqrt(s) = 5.5 TeV are covered.…
After close to 20 years of preparation, the dedicated heavy ion experiment ALICE took first data at the CERN LHC accelerator with proton collisions at the end of 2009 and with lead nuclei at the end of 2010. After a short introduction into…
This is a critical review of the various observables that have been proposed to signal the change from dense hadronic matter to a quark-gluon plasma at high temperature or baryon density. I discuss current models of quark-gluon plasma…
In November 2010 the ALICE experiment at CERN has collected the first Pb--Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 2.76 TeV produced by the LHC. A first characterization of the hot and dense state of matter produced in this new energy domain…
The energy densities achieved during central collisions of large nuclei at Brookhaven's AGS may be high enough to allow the formation of quark--gluon plasma. Calculations based on relativistic nucleation theory suggest that rare events,…
Electromagnetic probes are not affected by hadronization and provide direct information about the space-time evolution of high-energy nucleus-nucleus collisions. In particular, the measurement of thermal radiation from the quark-gluon…
The heavy ion (HI) program at the LHC has proven to be a successful and indispensable part of the LHC physics program. Its chief aim had been the detailed characterization of the quark-gluon plasma (QGP) in lead-lead collisions. Using…
We discuss current plans for experiments with ultra-relativistic nuclear collisions with heavy beams at LHC energy ($\sqrt{s} = 5.5$ TeV/nucleon pair). Emphasis will be placed on processes which are unique to the LHC program. They include…
The Large Hadron Collider at CERN will provide Pb-Pb collisions at energies up to $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 5.5 TeV. We speculate on global observables, i.e. the charged particle density at mid-rapidity, chemical freeze-out conditions and…
In the present paper, the current efforts in heavy-ion collisions toward high-density nuclear matter will be discussed. First, the essential points learned from RHIC and LHC will be reviewed. Then, the present data from the STAR Beam Energy…
Theoretical and phenomenological aspects of high energy heavy ion collisions are reviewed. Main emphasis is on ideas related to Color Glass Condensate (CGC) physics.
With the aim of understanding the phase structure of nuclear matter created in high-energy nuclear collisions at finite baryon density, a beam energy scan program has been carried out at Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). In this…
I review the main predictions for the heavy-ion programme at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN, as available in early April 2009. I begin by remembering the standard claims made in view of the experimental data measured at the Super…
The field of relativistic heavy-ion physics is reviewed with emphasis on new results and highlights from the first run of the Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collider at BNL and the 15 year research programme at the SPS at CERN and the AGS at BNL.
Two signatures of the quark-gluon plasma -- strangeness `enhancement' and $J/\psi$ `suppression' -- in nucleus--nucleus collisions at the SPS energies are critically discussed.
There seems to be a general consensus now that a first glimpse of a QGP-like effect has become visible in the beautiful NA50 data on J/\psi production and the `anomalous supression' phenomenon. On the other hand, it is still widely believed…
A brief historical review is made of the hadron-hadron (hh) total cross section and hadron-nucleus absorption cross section measurements, made mainly at high energy proton synchrotrons. Then I shall discuss low p_tprocesses, including…
In heavy-ion collisions at relativistic energies, the incident nuclei travel at nearly the speed of light. These collisions deposit kinetic energy into the overlap region and create a high-temperature environment where hadrons ``melt'' into…