High energy heavy ion collisions and the RHIC (Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider) project at Brookhaven

The most spectacular of the new high energy approaches to nuclear physics is the field of relativistic heavy ion collisions, for which it is anticipated that construction of the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) facility will begin soon. Here the goal is to subject large volumes of nuclear matter to such extreme conditions of temperature and pressure that a new form of matter is produced in which the recognizable components are not the familiar neutrons and protons, but are quarks. This paper discusses the RHIC project of the experiments and detectors associated with it. 10 refs., 4 figs