Matter in extremis: Ultrarelativistic nuclear collisions at RHIC
We review the physics of nuclear matter at high energy density and the experimental search for the Quark-Gluon Plasma at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). The data obtained in the first three years of the RHIC physics program provide several lines of evidence that a novel state of matter has been created in the most violent, head-on collisions of Au nuclei at {radical}s = 200 GeV. Jet quenching and global measurements show that the initial energy density of the strongly interacting medium generated in the collision is about two orders of magnitude larger than that of cold nuclear matter, well above the critical density for the deconfinement phase transition predicted by lattice QCD. The observed collective flow patterns imply that the system thermalizes early in its evolution, with the dynamics of its expansion consistent with ideal hydrodynamic flow based on a Quark-Gluon Plasma equation of state.
- Research Organization:
- Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Director. Office of Science. Office of Nuclear Physics (US)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC03-76SF00098
- OSTI ID:
- 841923
- Report Number(s):
- LBNL-56959; R&D Project: NRNC; TRN: US0503011
- Journal Information:
- Progress in Particle and Nuclear Physics, Vol. 54, Issue 2; Other Information: Submitted to Progress in Particle and Nuclear Physics; Volume 54, No.2; Journal Publication Date: 2004; PBD: 20 Aug 2004
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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