Eur. Phys. J. A (2006) 30: 311-316
https://doi.org/10.1140/epja/i2006-10125-6

Dynamics and Thermodynamics with Nuclear Degrees of Freedom

Possible links between the liquid-gas and deconfinement-hadronization phase transitions

¹ Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies, J.W. Goethe Universität, Max-von-Laue Str. 1, D-60438, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
² Kurchatov Institute, Russian Research Center, Kurchatov Sq. 1, 123182, Moscow, Russia

^* e-mail: mishustin@fias.uni-frankfurt.de

Received: 14 March 2006
Accepted: 26 July 2006
Published online: 30 October 2006

Abstract

It is commonly accepted that strongly interacting matter has several phase transitions in different domains of temperature and baryon density. In this contribution I discuss two most popular phase transitions which, in principle, can be accessed in nuclear collisions. One of them, the liquid-gas phase transition, is well established theoretically and studied experimentally in nuclear multifragmentation reactions at intermediate energies. The other one, the deconfinement-hadronization phase transition, is at the focus of present and future experimental studies with relativistic heavy-ion beams at SPS, RHIC and LHC. Possible links between these two phase transitions are identified from the viewpoint of their manifestation in violent nuclear collisions.