Institut de recherche sur les lois fondamentales de l'Univers

The first phase of exploration in relativistic heavy ion collisions at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) has resulted in the discovery of a new state of hot, dense matter. This strongly interacting plasma of quarks and gluons exhibits remarkable behavior, including collective effects which suggest strong collective flow is established among its parton constituents in the earliest moments of the collision. Recent results from the ongoing effort to illuminate the properties of this new state of matter and the initial conditions which underlie its formation will be discussed.