The search for the quark-gluon plasma

Abstract

We provide an overview of the present understanding of the transition from hadrons to a quark-gluon plasma, its signatures, and the experimental results so far. We discuss results of numerical simulations of the lattice gauge theory and critically evaluate the various observables that have been proposed as signatures of the QCD phase transition. We place the existing data from relativistic heavy-ion experiments at the Brookhaven Alternating Gradient Synchrotron (AGS) and CERN Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS) into perspective and provide an overview of the techniques and strategies that will be employed in the search for the quark-gluon plasma at heavy-ion colliders, such as the Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collider (RHIC) and the Large Hadron Collider (LHC).