Heavy-Ion Physics at the LHC with the Compact Muon Solenoid Detector

Abstract

Hadron collisions at the LHC offer a unique opportunity to study strong interactions. The exciting data collected by the four RHIC experiments suggest that in heavy-ion collisions at sqrt(s_NN) = 200 GeV, an equilibrated, strongly-coupled partonic system is formed. An extrapolation of the existing data toward LHC energies suggests that the heavy-ion program at the LHC is in a situation comparable to that of the high-energy program, where new discoveries near the TeV-scale are expected. Similarly, heavy-ion studies at the LHC are bound to either confirm the theoretical picture emerging from RHIC or challenge and extend our present understanding of strongly interacting matter at extreme densities. The experience at RHIC shows that the ideal detector for future heavy-ion studies should provide large acceptance for tracking and calorimetry, high granularity, high resolution and use fast detector technologies as well as sophisticated triggering. The CMS detector at the LHC excels in each of these categories.