Heavy Ion Physics at the CERN SPS and at RHIC (5/5)

by M. Gonin (Ecole Polytechnique, Palaiseau, France)

Friday 23 Mar 2001, 11:00 → 12:00 Europe/Zurich

500/1-001 - Main Auditorium (CERN)

Over the past two decades, heavy ion collisions were studied at Brookhaven (AGS) and CERN (SPS) to look for the production of a deconfined phase, the quark - gluon plasma. At low energy (÷ s @ 4 GeV), the AGS show no evidence for the production of the deconfined phase. However, these results indicate that strongly interacting nuclear matter has been created during these collisions. The results from the SPS heavy ion experiments (÷ s @ 18 GeV) show compelling evidence for the existence of the new state of matter when the energy density reaches 1- 2 GeV/fm ³. The onset for deconfinement of quarks and gluons is supported by the observation (for example) of screening effects, relative strangeness abundance or particle ratios. With the advent of the first heavy ion collider RHIC from Brookhaven, exciting new results are available at higher energies (÷ s @ 130 GeV). Possible new signatures of the plasma formation, such as jet quenching, will be studied. The main goal of this lecture is to review and compare the experimental data available from different energies. We will also discuss the implication of the AGS and SPS results on the future RHIC and SPS experiments.