https://www.arxiv.org/pdf/nucl-ex/0501009

Experimental and theoretical challenges in the search for the quark-gluon plasma: The STAR Collaboration's critical assessment of the evidence from RHIC collisions

http://nuclear.korea.ac.kr/~bhong/class/WhitePaper_PHENIX_RUN1-3.pdf

Formation of dense partonic matter in relativistic nucleus–nucleus collisions at RHIC: Experimental evaluation by the PHENIX Collaboration

http://cds.cern.ch/record/257993/files/9401310.pdf

QCD phenomenology based on a chiral effective Lagrangian

Relativistic mean field theory in finite nuclei

The authors review the theory and phenomenology of instantons in quantum chromodynamics (QCD). After a general overview, they provide a pedagogical introduction to semiclassical methods in quantum mechanics and field theory. The main part of the review summarizes our understanding of the instanton liquid in QCD and the role of instantons in generating the spectrum of light hadrons. The authors also discuss properties of instantons at finite temperature and how instantons can provide a mechanism for the chiral phase transition. They give an overview of the role of instantons in some other models, in particular low-dimensional sigma models, electroweak theory, and supersymmetric QCD.

http://wonka.physics.ncsu.edu/~tmschaef/physics/RevModPhys_Instantons.pdf

Instantons in QCD

In this Letter we argue that the event-by-event fluctuations of the ratio of the positively charged and the negatively charged pions provide a signal for a quark-gluon plasma. The fact that quarks carry fractional charges is ultimately responsible for this distinct signal.

Charged particle ratio fluctuation as a signal for quark-gluon plasma

Properties of hot and dense matter from relativistic heavy ion collisions

Mapping the phases of quantum chromodynamics with beam energy scan

The correlation between baryon number and strangeness elucidates the nature of strongly interacting matter. This diagnostic can be extracted theoretically from lattice QCD calculations and experimentally from event-by-event fluctuations. The analysis of present lattice results above the critical temperature severely limits the presence of q{bar q} bound states, thus supporting a picture of independent (quasi)quarks. Details may be found in [1].

/pdf/baryon-strangeness-correlations-a-diagnostic-of-strongly-42rmswl8jd.pdf

Baryon-strangeness correlations: a diagnostic of strongly interacting matter.

We review the progress achieved in extracting the properties of hot and dense matter from relativistic heavy ion collisions at the relativistic heavy ion collider (RHIC) at Brookhaven National Laboratory and the large hadron collider (LHC) at CERN. We focus on bulk properties of the medium, in particular the evidence for thermalization, aspects of the equation of state, transport properties, as well as fluctuations and correlations. We also discuss the in-medium properties of hadrons with light and heavy quarks, and measurements of dileptons and quarkonia. This review is dedicated to the memory of Gerald E. Brown.

/pdf/properties-of-hot-and-dense-matter-from-relativistic-heavy-2jyyveav5n.pdf

Volker Koch

Papers

Charged particle ratio fluctuation as a signal for quark-gluon plasma

Properties of hot and dense matter from relativistic heavy ion collisions

Mapping the phases of quantum chromodynamics with beam energy scan

Baryon-strangeness correlations: a diagnostic of strongly interacting matter.

Properties of hot and dense matter from relativistic heavy ion collisions