Dynamical evolution and particle production in relativistic nuclear collisions

We present an overview of the different stages in the dynamical evolution of relativistic nuclear collisions, from the entropy generating initial pre-equilibrium stage through the hydrodynamic expansion phase to particle freeze-out. We discuss the various theoretical models which have been applied to these different stages, and compare their predictions with the recent results from heavy-ion experiments at CERN and Brookhaven. Particular attention is given to the possible formation and subsequent hadronization of a quark-gluon plasma in these collisions. The observed strange particle abundancies are interpreted as an indication for chemical equilibration in nuclear collisions, and the particle momentum spectra are analyzed for signs of collective expansion flow. (orig.)