Quark-Gluon Plasma: Theoretical Foundations: An Annotated Reprint Collection

The purpose of this volume is to trace the development of the theoretical understanding of quark-gluon plasma, both in terms of theequation of state and thermal correlation functions and in terms ofits manifestation in high energy nuclear collisions. Who among us hasnot wondered how tall a mountain is on a neutron star, what happenswhen matter is heated and compressed to higher and higher densities, what happens when an object falls into a black hole, or what happenedeons ago in the early universe The study of quark-gluon plasma is related in one way or another to these and other thought provoking questions. Oftentimes the most eloquent exposition is given in theoriginal papers. To this end a selection is made of what are themost important pioneering papers in this field. The early 1950s wasan era when high energy multiparticle production in cosmic rayinteractions attracted the attention of some of the brightest minds in physics, and so it should be no surprise that the first reprinted papers deal with the introduction of statistical models of particleproduction. The quark model arose in the 1960s, while QCD as suchwas recognized as the theory of the strong interactions in the1970's. The behavior of matter at high temperatures and supranucleardensities became of wide interest in the nuclear and particle physicscommunities starting in the 1970s, which is when the concept ofquark-gluon plasma became established. The history of the field hasbeen traced up to the early 1990s. There are three reasons forstopping at that point in time. First, most of the key theoreticalconcepts and formalisms arosebefore 1993, although many of themcontinue to be developed today and hopefully well into the future. Second, papers written after 1992 are much more readily availablethan those writen before due to the advent of the World Wide Web andits electronic preprin