COLLECTIVE FLOW IN HEAVY-ION COLLISIONS

This chapter presents an experimental overview of collective flow phenomena in heavy-ion collisions in the incident energy regime from 100 AMeV to 160 AGeV. The characteristic features of various types of flow are described. The discussion of common dependences on the collision system and bombarding energy focuses on the different time scales of the underlying physics processes. Special emphasis is placed on the presence of structures in the excitation functions. The sensitivity of the available data to changes of nuclear-matter properties, e.g. equation of state, medium effects, and phase transitions, is discussed.