The QCD Equation of State - From Nuclear Physics to Perturbation Theory

Abstract

In this talk, we briefly review the current understanding of the behavior of the QCD equation of state throughout the phase diagram. Special emphasis is given to regions of phenomenological interest, and a number of important open questions as well as directions of ongoing research are pointed out. These include in particular the region of low temperatures and (moderately) high densities, where at the moment we have extremely few first principles tools available.

Comments: Invited talk at the workshop Excited QCD 2011, Lec Houches, Feb. 20-25, 2011. 6 pages, no figures