Discovery of hydrodynamic behavior in high energy heavy ion collisions

The objective of high energy heavy ion collision experiments is creating high temperature and high density states to investigate hadron matter properties in such extreme conditions. Since the start of heavy ion collision experiments with BEVALAC, knowledge of the space-time evolution of collision has become indispensable for understanding the hadronic matter properties. This problem is reviewed here from the hydrodynamics view point. Although its importance has been generally recognized since the time of BEVALAC, the hydrodynamic description has not been successful because the hydrodynamic model assuming non-viscous or small fluid had not been considered to be enough to properly describe the space-time evolution of hadron-hadron collisions until the RHIC experiments. Items of the following titles are picked up and reviewed here: Development of heavy ion accelerations; Space-time evolution of hadron collision process and hydrodynamic model; Chemical freezing and kinematical freezing, including transverse momentum spectra at proton-proton collisions and particle spectra in heavy ion collisions; Elliptical azimuthal angle anisotropy; Discovery of hydrodynamic flow at BEVALAC; Problems of incident beam dependence of v2; Elliptic azimuthal angle anisotropy at RHIC; What is it that carries the elliptic anisotropy? Discussion of attainment of thermodynamical equilibrium state at RHIC; and finally investigations of fluid properties other than azimuthal anisotropy, such as, Fluid properties probed by heavy quarks and Observing QCD fluid responses. (S. Funahashi)