This thesis makes significant advances in the quantitative understanding of two intrinsically linked yet technically very different phenomena in quantum chromodynamics (QCD). Firstly, the thesis investigates the soft probe of strong interaction topological fluctuations in the quark-gluon plasma (QGP) which is made possible via the anomalous chiral transport effects induced by such fluctuations. Here, the author makes contributions towards establishing the first comprehensive tool for quantitative prediction of the chiral magnetic effect in the QGP that is produced in heavy ion collision experiments. Secondly, the thesis deals with the hard probe of strongly coupled QGP created in heavy-ion collisions. In particular, this study addresses the basic question related to the nonperturbative color structure in the QGP via jet energy loss observables. The author further develops the CUJET computational model for jet quenching and uses it to analyze the topological degrees of freedom in quark-gluon plasma. The contributions this thesis makes towards these highly-challenging problems have already generated widespread impacts in the field of quark-gluon plasma and high-energy nuclear collisions.

The anomalous suppression of J/[psi] production in Pb-Pb collisions at 158 GeV observed by the NA50 Collaboration can be explained as due to the occurrence of a new phase of strong J/[psi] absorption, which sets in when the local energy density exceeds about 3.4 GeV/fm[sup 3]. The peculiar behavior of the[psi][sup']/[psi] ratio in[ital p]-A and nucleus-nucleus collisions can be understood as due to approximately equal[psi]-N and[psi][sup']-N absorption cross sections, but greater absorption cross sections for[psi][sup'] than J/[psi] with regard to absorption by soft particles and matter in the new phase.

The Advanced Research Workshop on QeD Hard Hadronic Processes was held on 8-13 October 1987 at Hotel on the Cay, St. Croix, U. S. Virgin Islands. The underlying theme of the workshop, the first in a series, was an examination, both theoretical and experimental, of the state of understanding of Quantum Chromodynamics. Because of the pervasiveness of the strong interactions in all aspects of high energy physics, QCD is central to many problems in elementary particle physics. Therefore, this workshop was organized to provide a forum in which the theory Quantum Chromodynamics cou 1 d be confronted with experi ment. The workshop was organ i zed in four sessions, each of which concentrated on a major experimental arena in which a hard QCD process can be measured experimentally. A fifth session was rlevoted to global issues which effect all QCD processes. Each session began with a survey of the theoretical developments in the particular area and concluded with a round table which discussed the various information presented in the course of the discussions. A session of the workshop was devoted to the direct production of high transverse momentum photons in hadronic interactions. Data from several experiments, either completed or in progress at CERN (NA3, NA24, WA70, UA6, CCOR, R806, AFS, RllO, UA1 and UA2), were di scussed and the prospects for two new upcomi ng experi ments from Fermil ab (E-705, E-706) were presented.

This book offers the unique possibility of tackling the problem of hadronic deconfinement from different perspectives. After general introductions to the physical issues, from both the theoretical and the experimental point of view, the book presents the most recent expertise on field theory approaches to the QCD phase diagram, many-body techniques and applications, the dynamics of phase transitions, and phenomenological analysis of relativistic heavy ion collisions.One of the major goals of this book is to promote interchange among those fields of research, which have traditionally been cultivated by different communities of physicists. The contributions in the book help in obtaining deep comprehension of this new state of matter, a system of deconfined quarks and gluons. At the same time the book offers a few examples of how the seeds of the deconfined state are looked for in the phenomenological analysis of the observables measured in relativistic heavy ion collisions. The main topics are dealt with in a pedagogical style, suitable for beginners as well as experienced researchers.