Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider

The Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) is a proposed research facility at Brookhaven National Laboratory to study the collision of beams of heavy ions, up to gold in mass and at beam energies up to 100 GeV/nucleon. The physics to be explored by this collider is an overlap between the traditional disciplines of nuclear physics and high energy physics and is a continuation of the planned program of light and heavy ion physics at BNL. The machine is to be constructed in the now-empty tunnel built for the former CBA project. Various other facilities to support the collider are either in place or under construction at BNL. The collider itself, including the magnets, is in an advanced state of design, and a construction start is anticipated in the next several years.