Abstract:
Nonequilibrium models (three-fluid hydrodynamics, UrQMD, and quark molecular
dynamics) are used to discuss the uniqueness of often proposed experimental
signatures for quark matter formation in relativistic heavy ion collisions from
the SPS via RHIC to LHC. It is demonstrated that these models -- although they
do treat the most interesting early phase of the collisions quite differently
(thermalizing QGP vs. coherent color fields with virtual particles) -- all
yield a reasonable agreement with a large variety of the available heavy ion
data. Hadron/hyperon yields, including $J/\Psi$ meson production/suppression,
strange matter formation, dileptons, and directed flow (bounce-off and
squeeze-out) are investigated. Observations of interesting phenomena in dense
matter are reported. However, we emphasize the need for systematic future
measurements to search for simultaneous irregularities in the excitation
functions of several observables in order to come close to pinning the
properties of hot, dense QCD matter from data. The role of future experiments
with the STAR and ALICE detectors is pointed out.
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