Physics Opportunities with Relativistic Heavy Ion Accelerators

Abstract

The physics motivation for a relativistic heavy ion collider with energies of 100 GeV/amu x 100 GeV/amu for nuclei of A-200 are (1) this will allow the production in the laboratory of a new state of matter - the quark gluon plasma, (2) the study of such interactions will provide an experimental test of statistical quantum chromodynamics (QCD), i.e., a look at the properties of the QCD vacuum at large distances, (3) such reactions will simulate the conditions of the early universe, and (4) such a collider will allow us to delve into the unknown. If history is any guide then it is clear that any time one can increase an important physics parameter by a factor of 10 (and in this case a factor of 100 over what is presently being done) then do it. At present the Bevalac at Berkeley is the premier facility for the study of heavy ions with a center of mass capability of 1 GeV/amu x 1 GeV/amu. In the near term this capability will be increased at the AGS at BNL (6 GeV/amu x 6 GeV/amu) and at the CERN SPS (10 GeV/amu x 10 GeV/amu). 5 figs.