Hadrons And Quark-Gluon Plasma

Description:
Before matter as we know it emerged, the universe was filled with the primordial state of hadronic matter called quark-gluon plasma. This hot soup of quarks and gluons is effectively an inescapable consequence of our current knowledge about the fundamental hadronic interactions: quantum chromodynamics. This book covers the ongoing search to verify the prediction experimentally and discusses the physical properties of this novel form of matter. It begins with an overview of the subject, followed by discussion of experimental methods and results. The second half of the book covers hadronic matter in confined and deconfined form, and strangeness as a signature of the quark-gluon phase. Covering the basics as well as more advanced material, it is ideal as an introduction for graduate students, as well as providing a valuable reference for researchers already working in this and related fields.

Review:
'Letessier and Rafelski's book occupied a sparsely-populated niche. it contains a valuable toolkit for understanding the physics of heavy-ion collisions, and the properties of matter at the crucial temperature of around 100 MeV, where quarks are thought to escape their cages ... an excellent book.' Mark Hindmarsh, The Observatory 'The book offers a broad overview of the facilities around the world at which the relevant experiments have been carried out or are planned, and of the theoretical concepts and methods through which the results of these experiments can be interpreted. I am fairly sure that this volume will provide experts with a useful and timely summary of the state of their field, while sufficiently assiduous newcomers will find it a tolerably good starting point for further exploration.' Comtemporary Physics

Table of Contents:
Part I. A New Phase of Matter?: 1. Micro-bang: big bang in the laboratory; 2. Hadrons; 3. Vacuum as a physical medium; 4. Statistical properties of hadronic matter; Part II. Analysis Tools and Experiments: 5. Nuclei in collision; 6. Understanding collision dynamics; 7. Entropy and its relevance in heavy ion collisions; Part III. Particle Production: 8. Particle spectra; 9. Highlights of hadron production; Part IV. Hot Hadronic Matter: 10. Relativistic gas; 11. First look at hadronic gas; 12. Hagedorn gas; Part V. QCD, Hadronic Structure and High Temperature: 13. Hadronic structure and quantum chromodynamics; 14. Perturbative QCD; 15. Lattice quantum chromodynamics; 16. Perturbative quark-gluon plasma; Part VI. Strangeness: 17. Thermal flavor production in deconfined phase; 18. Strangeness background; 19. Hadron freeze-out analysis.

Author Biography:
Jean F. Letessier has been CNRS researcher at the University of Paris since 1978. Prior to that he worked at the Institut de Physique Nucleaire, Orsay where he obtained his thesis on Hyperon-Nucleon Interaction in 1970, under the direction of Prof. R. Vinh Mau, and was a teaching assistant at the University of Bordeaux. Since 1972 he has made numerous contributions to the research area of thermal particle production and applied mathematics. Johann Rafelski obtained his Ph.D. in 1973 and has been Professor of Physics at the University of Arizona since 1987. He teaches theoretical subatomic physics at both undergraduate and graduate level. Prior to this, he held a Chair at Theoretical Physics at University of Cape Town, and has been associate Professor of Theoretical Physics at University Frankfurt. He worked at the CERN laboratory in Geneva in various functions since 1977, and has been instrumental in the development of the relativistic heavy ion experimental program.