Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).

A new phase of matter? -- Micro-bang and big-bang -- Energy and time scales -- Quarks and gluons -- The hadronic phase transition in the early Universe -- Entropy-conserving (isentropic) expansion -- The dynamic Universe -- Looking for quark-gluon plasma: strangeness -- Other probes of quark-gluon plasma -- Hadrons -- Baryons and mesons -- Strange hadrons -- Charm and bottom in hadrons -- The vacuum as a physical medium -- Confining vacuum in strong interactions -- Ferromagnetic vacuum -- Chiral symmetry -- Phases of strongly interacting matter -- The expanding fireball and phase transformation -- QGP and confined hadronic-gas phases -- Statistical properties of hadronic matter -- Equidistribution of energy -- The grand-canonical ensemble -- Independent quantum (quasi)particles -- The Fermi and Bose quantum gases -- Hadron gas -- A first look at quark-gluon plasma -- Experiments and analysis tools -- Nuclei in collision -- Heavy-ion research programs -- Reaction energy and collision geometry -- Rapidity -- Pseudorapidity and quasirapidity -- Stages of evolution of dense matter -- Approach to local kinetic equilibrium -- The approach to chemical equilibrium -- Understanding collision dynamics -- Cascades of particles -- Relativistic hydrodynamics -- The evolution of matter and temperature -- Longitudinal flow of matter -- Entropy and its relevance in heavy-ion collisions -- Entropy and the approach to chemical equilibrium -- Entropy in a glue-ball -- Measurement of entropy in heavy-ion collisions.

Before matter as we know it emerged, the universe was filled with the primordial state of hadronic matter called quark-gluon plasma. This hot soup of quarks and gluons is effectively an inescapable consequence of our current knowledge about the fundamental hadronic interactions: quantum chromodynamics. This book covers the ongoing search to verify the prediction experimentally and discusses the physical properties of this novel form of matter. It begins with an overview of the subject, followed by discussion of experimental methods and results. The second half of the book covers hadronic matter in confined and deconfined form, and strangeness as a signature of the quark-gluon phase. Covering the basics as well as more advanced material, it is ideal as an introduction for graduate students, as well as providing a valuable reference for researchers already working in this and related fields.