The Department of Theoretical Physics of Torino University has an excellent tradition in a broad variety of topics, including for example nuclear many-body physics, neutrino physics, field theory and statistical mechanics, lattice and perturbative QCD, string theory and quantum gravity. The same building also hosts the Departments of General and of Experimental Physics, where many people are working on the heavy-ion ALICE experiment at CERN. This creates a very rich and multidisciplinary environment, which will be of fundamental importance for the development of our research project on Quark-Gluon Plasma Physics. Indeed, in recent years it became clear that the physics involved in heavy-ion experiments is so rich, that it requires the employment of several branches of knowledge, from fluid dynamics to thermal field theory, from lattice QCD to string theory/gravity. Therefore, even if our project will mainly involve researchers belonging to the nuclear theory group, the possibility of discussing and exchanging ideas with people having a different expertise and working in the same building is certainly a highly desirable feature.

The younger members of the group, such as laurea and Ph.D. students, will benefit from working on a very hot and modern subject, especially in view of the forthcoming LHC heavy-ion experiments. Besides, thanks to the many international connections of the more senior members, they will be able to spend part of their research time in the best foreign institutions in this field of research, such as the Technical University of Munich, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Stony Brook University, CEA Saclay, Bielefeld University, MIT and CERN. This will expose them to an international environment and give them the possibility to discuss ideas and projects with the world experts in the field, which represents a unique occasion and a fundamental step for their career. Besides, the nuclear theory group in Torino University organizes every year an International School named ``Quark Gluon Plasma and Heavy Ion Collisions: Past, Present and Future", where the most

prominent scientists of the heavy-ion community give lectures on very specific and hot topics.

Meetings of the participants and slides of the discussions

Meeting of Thursday, March 31st 2011: slides