Past, Present and Future of High-Energy Heavy-Ion Physics (高能重离子物理的过去、现在和未来)

Since the publication of the seminal paper “A Possible New Form of Matter at High Density” by T. D. Lee in 1976, high-energy heavy-ion physics has witnessed many milestones in understanding the strong-interaction matter under extreme conditions. Tremendous evidences have shown that the QCD matter produced in relativistic nucleus-nucleus collisions is the hottest, most perfect, extremely opaque and most vortical fluid ever made in the laboratories. Relativistic heavy-ion collisions have also served as a versatile tool to explore novel and exotic phenomena such as the formation of anti-nuclei, chiral magnetic effect, etc. Given various extraordinary achievements in the last decades, we plan to host a workshop on the Past, Present and Future of High-Energy Heavy-Ion Physics at Central China Normal University (CCNU), Wuhan from September 22nd to 24th, 2023, and bring together the leading experts in the field to summarize the current status and to develop new ideas for the future of quark matter and heavy-ion physics.