Hunting down the quark-gluon plasma in relativistic heavy-ion collisions
Abstract
Description
The present status of the heavy-ion program to search for quark-gluon plasma is reviewed. The goal of this program is to recreate the Big Bang in the laboratory, by generating small chunks of exploding quark-gluon plasma (``The Little Bang''). I argue that the analogues of the three pillars of Big Bang Theory (Hubble flow, microwave background radiation, and primordial nucleosynthesis) have now been firmly established in heavy-ion collisions at SPS energies: there is convincing evidence for strong radial flow, thermal hadron emission, and primordial hadrosynthesis from a color-deconfined initial stage. Direct observation of the quark-gluon plasma phase via its electromagnetic radiation will be possible in planned collider experiments at higher energies.
20 pages LaTeX, including 8 postscript figures. To appear in the Proceedings of ``Strong and Electroweak Matter '98'' (Copenhagen, 2-5 Dec. 1998), ed. by J. Ambjorn, P. Damgaard, K. Kainulainen, and K. Rummukainen, World Scientific Publ. Co., Singapore, 1999
20 pages LaTeX, including 8 postscript figures. To appear in the Proceedings of ``Strong and Electroweak Matter '98'' (Copenhagen, 2-5 Dec. 1998), ed. by J. Ambjorn, P. Damgaard, K. Kainulainen, and K. Rummukainen, World Scientific Publ. Co., Singapore, 1999