English

A short introduction to heavy-ion physics

Nuclear Theory 2018-02-21 v2 High Energy Physics - Experiment High Energy Physics - Phenomenology Nuclear Experiment

Abstract

Heavy-ion collisions provide the only laboratory tests of relativistic quantum field theory at finite temperature. Understanding these is a necessary step in understanding the origins of our universe. These lectures introduce the subject to experimental particle physicists, in the hope that they will be useful to others as well. The phase diagram of QCD is briefly touched upon. Kinematic variables which arise in the collisions of heavy-ions beyond those in the collisions of protons or electrons are introduced. Finally, a few of the signals studied in heavy-ion collisions, and the kind of physics questions which they open up are discussed.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1508.01136,
  title  = {A short introduction to heavy-ion physics},
  author = {Sourendu Gupta},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1508.01136},
  year   = {2018}
}

Comments

Lectures delivered at the Asia-Europe-Pacific School of High-Energy Physics, Puri, India, November 2014

R2 v1 2026-06-22T10:27:12.259Z