The Early History of the Quark-Gluon Plasma
Abstract
Abstract We present the historical antecedents to the field of relativistic heavy ion physics, beginning with early attempts to model the strong interaction and ending with the endorsement of a relativistic heavy ion collider in the 1983 U.S. Long-Range Plan for Nuclear Science and the subsequent launch of heavy ion research programs at Brookhaven National Laboratory and CERN. Particular attention is paid to two major themes: (1) A program to study high density states of nuclear matter emerging from the 1974 Bear Mountain conference and (2) Efforts to understand the predictions of QCD for matter at high densities and/or temperatures.
Fields of Study & Subjects
High-Energy Particle Collisions Research
Quantum Chromodynamics and Particle Interactions
Particle physics theoretical and experimental studies
Publication details
- Journal / source
- History of physics
- Pages
- 83–103
- Publication date
- 1 January 2026
- Language
- EN
- Document type
- Book chapter