QCD, the theory of strongly interacting matter, predics that, above
a critical energy density, hadrons, the constituents or normal nuclear matter,
decompose into a plasma of quarks and gluons, the Quark Gluon Plasma, QGP.
Such a state existed shortly after the Big Bang and may exist as well in the
neutron stars. Colliding heavy ions at extreme energies is the only way to
study QGP on Earth.
A sketch of the nuclear matter phase diagram
The phase diagram in details
(by P. Braun-Munzinger and J. Wambach)
A. Andronic
Last modified: Wed Jul 16 09:59:06 CEST 2008