Recent Developments in the Study of Deconfinement in Nucleus-Nucleus Collisions

Abstract

Deconfinement refers to the creation of a state of quasi-free quarks and gluons in strongly interacting matter. Model predictions and experimental evidence for the onset of deconfinement in nucleus-nucleus collisions were discussed in our first review on this subject. These results motivated further experimental and theoretical studies. This review addresses two subjects. First, a summary of the past, present and future experimental programmes related to discovery and study of properties of the onset of deconfinement are %briefly presented. Second, recent progress is reviewed on analysis methods and preliminary experimental results for new strongly intensive fluctuation measures are discussed, which are relevant for current and future studies of the onset of deconfinement and searches for the critical point of strongly interacting matter