It seems appropriate that at that stage one should have an INT program where one tries to systematically assess the properties of the matter which has been produced at RHIC, and the implications of the discoveries made at RHIC for the future experimental programs at both RHIC and LHC.

In a theoretical context, the Quark Gluon Plasma and the Color Glass Condensate have been proposed to describe the matter at various stages in the evolution of a heavy ion collision. There is now strong evidence that a Quark Gluon Plasma has been made, but the Color Glass Condensate hypothesis is more tentative. By the time of the proposed program at the INT, we expect the various experimental and theoretical issues which should resolve properties of the Quark Gluon Plasma to be fairly well developed. It is essential to take a critical look at these issues with an attempt to summarize what has been learned from the RHIC experimental program, and an eye to the future about how to better elucidate controversial questions. The advances in the Color Glass Condensate description of high energy density matter will undoubtedly involve substantial theoretical effort since some purely theoretical issues are not well understood at this time. By the year 2006 there may be some new data coming from forward experiments in AA and dA at RHIC. The year 2006 will also be very close to the start of an exciting experimental program at the LHC which will have unprecedented reach in particle transverse momentum and Bjorken x. In view of the discovery potential offered by this enormous increase in kinematic range, it will be important to discuss strategies of how to best exploit the opportunities provided by the higher integrated luminosity at RHIC and pursue parallel research programs at the two accelerators which optimize the global physics output.

We propose to hold a topical workshop during the first week of the program, to outline the current status of the RHIC and LHC programs and the theory of high energy density matter.

The approximate preliminary outline of the topics that will be discussed in the workshop is as follows:

Week 1 - Thermalization workshop
Week 2 - QGP thermalization, viscosity, saturation/CGC
Week 3 - Hydrodynamics, flow, plasma instabilities
Weeks 4 & 5 - Heavy flavors
Weeks 6 & 7 - Jet quenching, parton energy loss, electromagnetic probes
Weeks 8-10 - Saturation/CGC, forward physics
Week 11 - QGP phase transition

The main body of the program will be structured in the form of specialized sessions of one to several weeks duration, covering the following major aspects of the heavy ion program:

1. Flow, Hydrodynamics, HBT, and Coalescence

2. Jets

3. J/y, Open Charm, Photons and Dileptons

4. Strangeness

5. Saturation/CGC and Forward Physics

6. QCD at High Temperature and Baryon Density, Lattice QCD

We expect broad participation of experimentalists in the proposed program. We will be contemporaneously running a theoretical program throughout the entire meeting on issues related to the Quark-Gluon Plasma and the Color Glass Condensate.