Evidence for a New State of Matter: An Assessment of the Results from the CERN Lead Beam Programme

Abstract

This "position paper" collects the scientific arguments behind the CERN Press Release of February 10, 2000, which announced evidence for the creation of a new state of matter in Pb-Pb collisions at the CERN SPS. The data on which this paper is based were presented in a special seminar at CERN on the same day, a recording of which can be accessed at http://www.cern.ch/CERN/Announcements/2000/NewStateMatter/ .