From Quark-Gluon Plasma to the Perfect Liquid

Berndt Müller

Published 2007-10-17, updated 2007-11-25Version 3

After reviewing some basic concepts of the theory of strongly interacting matter above nuclear energy density and reviewing some salient results of the experimental program at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC), these lectures explain why the quark-gluon plasma observed in the RHIC experiments has been called a ``perfect liquid.'' They then give an introduction to some recent ideas concerning the possible origin of the nearly inviscid nature of the quark-gluon plasma and discuss the connection between low viscosity and strong parton energy loss of hot QCD matter.