Heavy Ion Collisions At Intermediate Energies

Ions are atoms or molecules stripped of their electrons, so they can be accelerated by electric fields. They can be made to hit each other with low energy, intermediate energy, high energy, or very high energy; each energy range seeks to investigate different aspects of hadronic physics. Intermediate-energy heavy ion collisions explore the nuclei far from stability valley, the incompressibility of nuclear matter, the liquid-gas phase transition in nuclear environment, the symmetry energy far from the normal density, and other phenomena. This has been an active field of research for last four decades.This is a book for entrants in the field. It is suitable as a companion book in a graduate course. For practitioners in the field it will be useful as a reference.

"Ions are atoms or molecules stripped of their electrons, so they can be accelerated by electric fields. They can be made to hit each other with low energy, intermediate energy, high energy, or very high energy; each energy range seeks to investigate different aspects of hadronic physics. Intermediate-energy heavy ion collisions explore the nuclei far from stability valley, the incompressibility of nuclear matter, the liquid-gas phase transition in nuclear environment, the symmetry energy far from the normal density, and other phenomena. This has been an active field of research for last four decades. This is a book for entrants in the field. It is suitable as a companion book in a graduate course. For practitioners in the field it will be useful as a reference."--

Written primarily for researchers and graduate students who are new in this emerging field, this book develops the necessary tools so that readers can follow the latest advances in this subject. Readers are first guided to examine the basic informations on nucleon-nucleon collisions and the use of the nucleus as an arena to study the interaction of one nucleon with another. A good survey of the relation between nucleon-nucleon and nucleus-nucleus collisions provides the proper comparison to study phenomena involving the more exotic quark-gluon plasma. Properties of the quark-gluon plasma and signatures for its detection are discussed to aid future searches and exploration for this exotic matter. Recent experimental findings are summarised.

This text book deals with many issues of nuclear reactions in contest with the heavy-ion collisions at intermediate energies. The main issues discussed in the book are Multifragmentation, elliptical flow, nuclear stopping and symmetry energy. These phenomenas can be compared with the happenings in the universe such as Supernova Explosion, Quark Gluon Plasma, Liquid Gas Phase transition, which were the basic processes at the time of expansion of the universe. Ultimately, the study of these phenomenas has made this book highly important and interesting for the researchers as well as master students working in the field of intermediate energies. In addition to this, the determination of symmetry energy for asymmetric nuclear matter, which is the burning topic in the present day research, is also explored in the present version of the book. In conclusion, the matter published in the book will give the readers the detailed analysis of the nature of the hadronic matter, which is the ultimate goal of all the theoretical as well as experimental nuclear physics collaborations throughout the world.

This proceedings volume gives a consistent overview of various theoretical and experimental programs which study the dynamics of nucleus-nucleus collisions from low to ultra-relativistic energies. The contributions concentrate on the following topics: cold fragmentation of nuclear matter, pre-equilibrium and thermalization, thermal and chemical equilibration, fragmentation and correlations in intermediate energy collisions, dynamical properties of hot and dense nuclear matter in medium effects, resonance and strange nuclear matter, and signals of the deconfined state.High quality data obtained using experimental devices close to 4π geometries and recent theoretical developments are presented. They illustrate the significant progress made during the last few years in understanding the properties of nuclear matter in extreme conditions of pressure and temperature.This book serves as a graduate textbook and as a reference work on recent developments in this area.

Introduction to Relativistic Heavy Ion Collisions László P. Csernai University of Bergen, Norway Written for postgraduates and advanced undergraduates in physics, this clear and concise work covers a wide range of subjects from intermediate to ultra-relativistic energies, thus providing an introductory overview of heavy ion physics. The reader is introduced to essential principles in heavy ion physics through a variety of questions, with answers, of varying difficulty. This timely text is based on a series of well received lectures given by Professor L. Csernai at the University of Minnesota, and the University of Bergen, where the author is based.