Physics of Quark--Gluon Plasma

A Short Introduction

In this review, we present an up-to-date phenomenological summary of research developments in the physics of the Quark--Gluon Plasma (QGP). A short historical perspective and theoretical motivation for this rapidly developing field of contemporary particle physics is provided. In addition, we introduce and discuss the role of the quantum chromodynamics (QCD) ground state, non-perturbative and lattice QCD results on the QGP properties, as well as the transport models used to m...

In this manuscript, it is presented an overview of the Quark-Gluon Plasma properties measured, so far, using hard probes. We will focus on both quantitative and qualitative properties that have been (or are about to be) measured, making a link between the theoretical description and experimental results. Throughout the manuscript, highlights to some of the conferences' results will be given, but without an extensive overview. A personal opinion of the most important developme...

Central nuclear collisions at energies far above 1 GeV/nucleon may provide for conditions, where the transition from highly excited hadronic matter into quark matter or quark-gluon plasma can be probed. Here I review our current understanding of the physical properties of a quark-gluon plasma and review ideas about the nature of, and signals for, the deconfinement transition. I also give a detailed presentation of recent progress in the treatment of the formation of a thermal...

We discuss results from lattice calculations for a few observables that are sensitive to different length scales in the high temperature phase of QCD and can give insight into its non-perturbative structure. We compare lattice results with perturbative calculations at high temperature obtained for vanishing and non-vanishing quark chemical potential.

Since the quark-gluon plasma (QGP) reveals some obvious similarities to the well-known electromagnetic plasma (EMP), an accumulated knowledge on EMP can be used in the QGP studies. After discussing similarities and differences of the two systems, we present theoretical tools which are used to describe the plasmas. The tools include: kinetic theory, hydrodynamic approach and diagrammatic perturbative methods. We consider collective phenomena in the plasma with a particular emp...

The current status of Quark-Gluon-Plasma Theory is reviewed. Special emphasis is placed on QGP signatures, the interpretation of current data and what to expect from RHIC in the near future.

The major aim of nucleus-nucleus collisions at the LHC is to study the physics of strongly interacting matter and the quark gluon plasma (QGP), formed in extreme conditions of temperature and energy density. We give a brief overview of the experimental program and discuss the signatures and observables for a detailed study of QGP matter.

Progress on Quark Gluon Plasma

Some features of the high temperature gluonic matter, such as the breakdown of the fundamental group symmetry by the kinetic energy, the screening of test quarks by some unusual gluon states and the explanation of the absence of isolated quarks in the vacuum without the help of infinities are presented in this talk. Special attention is paid to separate the dynamical input inferred from the numerical results of lattice gauge theory from the kinematics.