Toward the theory of strongly coupled Quark-Gluon Plasma

A critical review on signatures of Quark-Gluon-Plasma formation is given and the current (1998) experimental status is discussed. After giving an introduction to the properties of QCD matter in both, equilibrium- and non-equilibrium theories, we focus on observables which may yield experimental evidence for QGP formation. For each individual observable the discussion is divided into three sections: first the connection between the respective observable and QGP formation in te...

The progress over the 30 years since the first high-energy heavy-ion collisions at the BNL-AGS and CERN-SPS has been truly remarkable. Rigorous experimental and theoretical studies have revealed a new state of the matter in heavy-ion collisions, the quark-gluon plasma (QGP). Many signatures supporting the formation of the QGP have been reported. Among them are jet quenching, the non-viscous flow, direct photons, and Debye screening effects. In this article, selected signature...

Radial and elliptic flow in non-central heavy ion collisions can constrain the effective Equation of State(EoS) of the excited nuclear matter. To this end, a model combining relativistic hydrodynamics and a hadronic transport code(RQMD [17]) is developed. For an EoS with a first order phase transition, the model reproduces both the radial and elliptic flow data at the SPS. With the EoS fixed from SPS data, we quantify predictions at RHIC where the Quark Gluon Plasma(QGP) pres...

I give a brief overview of recent theoretical developments concerning the high temperature phase of QCD, and the structure of hadronic wave functions at high energy.

We discuss, in this review, the existing models for the production of QGP in Relativistic Heavy Ion Collisions. We shall try to give a brief description of the models available for the pre-equilibrium production of QGP, ranging from soft process dominated QCD regime to the pQCD dominated regime. We also present the estimates for the initial energy density, the temperature and the thermalisation time -- available from each of these studies. Finally, we shall address the questi...

The ability to measure detailed aspects of the substructure of high-energy jets traversing the quark-gluon plasma (QGP) has provided a new window into its internal dynamics. However, drawing robust conclusions from traditional jet substructure observables has been difficult. In this manuscript we expand on a new approach to jet substructure in heavy-ion collisions based on the study of correlation functions of energy flow operators (energy correlators). We compute the two-poi...

The quark-gluon plasma, possibly created in ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions, is a strongly interacting many-body parton system. By comparison with strongly coupled electromagnetic plasmas (classical and non-relativistic) it is concluded that the quark-gluon plasma could be in the liquid phase. As an example for a strongly coupled plasma, complex plasmas, which show liquid and even solid phases, are discussed briefly. Furthermore, methods based on correlation functions ...

Using the recently published model for the collisional energy loss of heavy quarks (Q) in a Quark Gluon Plasma (QGP), based on perturbative QCD (pQCD) with a running coupling constant, we study the interaction between heavy quarks and plasma particles in detail. We discuss correlations between the simultaneously produced $c$ and $\bar{c}$ quarks, study how central collisions can be experimentally selected, predict observable correlations and extend our model to the energy dom...

This talk reviews progress reported at Quark-Matter 2001 on various theoretical aspects of the quark-gluon plasma and discusses how the new results obtained at RHIC change the standard picture of ultrarelativistic nucleus-nucleus collisions.

Collective flow has been observed in heavy ion collisions, with a large anisotropic component, and ideal hydrodynamic calculations had significant successful in describing the distribution of produced particles at the RHIC experiments. In order to account for this near ideal fluid behavior, the shear and bulk viscosity of the quark gluon plasma (QGP) must be computed from first principles in a regime where the QGP is not weakly coupled. In this talk I describe recent progress...