A Cornucopia of Experiment at RHIC

TL;DR

This paper reviews experimental findings from heavy ion collisions at RHIC, highlighting phenomena like elliptic flow, particle suppression, and electromagnetic signals, and discusses the puzzling similarity in behavior between heavy and light quarks.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of RHIC experimental results, emphasizing key observations and raising questions about quark behavior in quark-gluon plasma.

Findings

Elliptic flow consistent with nearly ideal hydrodynamics

Suppression of high-momentum particles indicated by R_AA

Electromagnetic signals such as dileptons and photons observed

Abstract

I outline experimental results on heavy ion collisions at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider for a non-technical audience. This includes: elliptic flow and nearly ideal hydrodynamics; the suppression of hard particles and the ratio R_AA; and electromagnetic signals, including dileptons and direct photons. Especially puzzling is why the behavior of heavy (charm) quarks appears to be so similar to that of light quarks.