A perspective on relativistic nuclear collisions

A quasi-dynamical model for the disassembly of a high energy hadronic fireball has been developed. It is fund that some signals from the early high density stage are expected to survive the expansion stage. Indeed cetain signals, the π /N and K / N ratio at high kinetic energy, are so qualitatively unique in their dependance on target projectile mass, that we believe they will survive a refinement of the collision dynamics. Therefore a determination of the assymptotic form of the hadron spectrum can be made by studying nuclear collisions. The required energies are high (approximately 10 GeV/ nucleon in C.M.), but they are within the reach of present technology