1. 15-May-04 The Columbia Program in Relativistic Heavy Ion Physics W.A. Zajc B. A. Cole M. Gyulassy

2. 15-May-04 Outline l B. Cole (Experiment) q Physics from PHENIX q Columbia group, specific contribution to PHENIX l M. Gyulassy (Theory) q Physics from RHIC q The big picture l W. Zajc (Experiment) q Overview q Introduction to PHENIX Experiment at RHIC

3. 15-May-04 RHIC’s Experiments STAR

4. 15-May-04 RHIC’s Goals l To q search for q study q characterize the QCD phase transition(s) F The only phase transition in a fundamental theory THAT IS ACCESSIBLE TO EXPERIMENT

5. 15-May-04 Publicity l along with National Public Radio, WCBS, Times of India, Nature, New Scientist, Science News, Public Radio International, Physics Today, Swedish National Radio, The Chronicle of Higher Education, San Francisco Chronicle, Dallas Morning News, Slashdot, Der Spiegel, AOL, Cern Courier, CNN, Discover, Bild der Wissenschaft, Die Welt, Times of London, Yahoo, Fox News, Hungarian National Press, … l u Scientists Report Hottest, Densest Matter Ever Observed Quark-gluon plasma discovery key in examining universe, scientists say Intriguing Oddities In High- Energy Nuclear Collisions. Has RHIC Set Quarks Free at Last? Physicists Don't Quite Say So A Matter of Accomplishment Big Bang experiment strikes gold

6. 15-May-04 PHENIX Publicity l l Major Columbia Involvement in q q Design q q Electronics q q Data Acquisition q q Leadership q q Science of this international collaboration F F Details in B. Cole talk

7. 15-May-04 PHENIX Publications l First RHIC Operations in June, 2000 l Since then: q 28 PHENIX publications in refereed literature q Of these u 10 are SPIRES “well-known” papers (50-99 citations) u 5 are SPIRES “famous” papers (100-499 citations) q An accelerating impact on the field

8. 15-May-04 STAR Collective Flow PHENIX Jet Quenching CGC Saturation Four major “day 1” discoveries Baryon anomaly PHENIX Scientific Impact (As presented by M. Gyulassy in June, 2004 to Nuclear Science Advisory Committtee)