Ultra-Relativistic heavy-ion collisions: searching for the quark gluon plasma

Conference · Sat Feb 01 04:00:00 EST 1992 · AIP Conference Proceedings (American Institute of Physics); (United States)

OSTI ID:5408035

Schukraft, J ^[1]

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1. CERN, Div. PPE, CH-1211 Geneva 23 (Switzerland)

The physics of ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions is presented with particular emphasis on the basic concepts used in interpreting the data and some principal problems encountered in this new and rapidly evolving field. A number of selected recent and older results from experiments at CERN and BNL were reviewed. No unambiguous evidence for Quark-Gluon Plasma formation has emerged from the data so far, but some large and significant effects have been observed which clearly show that nucleus-nucleus collisions cannot be described as a straightforward superposition of independent nucleon-nucleon reactions. Results from a number of independent observables (p[sub t]-distributions, strangeness abundances, J/[Psi] suppression, particle interferometry) indicate the existence of an extended and strongly interacting system. The first exploratory' phase of experimentation seems therefore to confirm that ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions are a promising tool to study the properties of bulk hadronic matter under extreme conditions.

• OSTI ID: 5408035
• Report Number(s): CONF-920837--
• Conference Information: Journal Name: AIP Conference Proceedings (American Institute of Physics); (United States) Journal Volume: 272:1
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

662230 -- Quantum Chromodynamics-- (1992-)
662340* -- Hadron Interactions-- (1992-)
72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
BARYON-BARYON INTERACTIONS
BOSONS
CHARGED-PARTICLE REACTIONS
ELEMENTARY PARTICLES
ENERGY RANGE
FERMIONS
GLUONS
GOLD 197 TARGET
HADRON-HADRON INTERACTIONS
HEAVY ION REACTIONS
INTERACTIONS
NUCLEAR REACTIONS
NUCLEON-NUCLEON INTERACTIONS
PARTICLE INTERACTIONS
PLASMA
POSTULATED PARTICLES
QUARKS
RELATIVISTIC RANGE
SULFUR 32 REACTIONS
TARGETS