Data from the first three years of running at RHIC are reviewed and put into context with data obtained previously at the AGS and SPS and with the physics question of creation of a quark-gluon plasma in high energy heavy ion collisions. Also some very recent and still preliminary data from run4 are included.
The discovery of QGP phenomena in small collision systems like pp and p-Pb collisions have challenged the basic paradigms of heavy-ion and high-energy physics. These proceedings give a brief overview of the key findings and their implications, as well as todays experimental and theoretical situation. An outlook of future measurement is made.
Brief review of the hadronic probes that are used to diagnose the quark-gluon plasma produced in relativistic heavy ion collisions and interrogate its properties. Emphasis is placed on probes that have significantly impacted our understanding of the nature of the quark-gluon plasma and confirmed its formation.
The study of heavy-ion collisions has currently unprecedented opportunities with two first class facilities, the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at BNL and the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN, and five large experiments ALICE, ATLAS, CMS, PHENIX and STAR producing a wealth of high quality data. Selected results recently obtained are presented on the study of flow, energy loss and direct photons.
Our answer to the question posed in the title is: probably no. In this work we show that it is rather unlikely that the structure $X(2265)$ reported by the DISTO collaboration corresponds to a kaonic nuclear bound state. The main argumentation is based on the repetition of the DISTO analysis on the HADES data sample, containing p+p reactions at 3.5 GeV. We further discuss many aspects in connection with the $pK^{+}Lambda$ final state and the $Lambda(1405)$-resonance. The results evidence possible problematics in the interpretation of the DISTO data.
The experimental search for the location of the QCD critical point in the phase diagram is of primary importance. In a recent publication it is claimed that measurements at RHIC lead not only to the location of the critical point ($mu_{cep}=95$ MeV, $T_{cep}=165$ MeV) but also to the verification of its universality class ($3d$ Ising system) by extracting the values of the critical exponents ($gamma=1.2$, $ u=0.66$). We argue that this claim is based on an erroneous treatment of scaling relations near the critical point. As a result, the correct interpretation of the measurements cannot be linked to the QCD critical point.