This set of lectures deals with the transition from nuclear matter to quark matter. The reader will learn not only about the theory of quark-gluon plasmas but also how they are obtained in the laboratory through heavy-ion collisions or where they can be found in astrophysical objects such as compact stars. The book fills a gap between well-known textbook material and the research literature and is thus perfectly suited for postgraduate students who wish to enter this field, for lecturers looking for advanced material for their courses and for scientists in search of a modern source of reference on these topics.

This volume contains the Proceedings of the "XXIV. Inter nationale Universitatswochen fur Kernphysik" held in Schlad ming, Austria, in February 1985. It consists of the written versions of the lectures (3-4 hours) given at this winter school and includes also most of the seminars (30-50 minutes) presented. In choosing the topic for the 1985 meeting, our aim was to give an account of the present understanding of the nucleon-nucleon as well as nucleon-antinucleon inter actions. This field, which is of definite relevance in nuclear and particle physics, has witnessed a rapid develop ment in recent times both in theory and experiment. New evidence has emerged in the whole range from low to extremely high energies. It was an exciting experience to bring to gether knowledge from the very domains of nuclear and high energy physics as well as to meet the respective researchers. Thanks to the efforts of the lecturers, who did a splendid job in presenting the lectures and in preparing their lecture notes, a comprehensive insight into the hadronic interaction between nucleons and anti-nucleons was achieved. The lecture notes were reconsidered by the authors after the meeting and are now being published in their final form. The seminars mainly dealt with specific topics currently under investiga tion within this rather wide field. We are grateful to all authors for their efforts, as they made it possible to speed up the publication of these proceedings."

This set of lectures deals with the transition from nuclear matter to quark matter. The reader will learn not only about the theory of quark-gluon plasmas but also how they are obtained in the laboratory through heavy-ion collisions or where they can be found in astrophysical objects such as compact stars. The book fills a gap between well-known textbook material and the research literature and is thus perfectly suited for postgraduate students who wish to enter this field, for lecturers looking for advanced material for their courses and for scientists in search of a modern source of reference on these topics.