Heavy Ion Physics with the ATLAS Detector

The capabilities of the ATLAS experiment in carrying out heavy ion measurements at the LHC are described with a focus on physics topics relevant to the upcoming Pb+Pb run in Nov.2010. These topics are particle multiplicities, collective elliptic flow, and jets. The large acceptance of the ATLAS detector and the high-granularity calorimetry, coupled with extensive silicon tracking will allow ATLAS to make high quality measurements in each of these areas. Those results will provide essential tests of theoretical descriptions of RHIC data and will test whether the strong-coupling in the quark gluon plasma indicated by RHIC data will persist at higher temperatures. Furthermore, even early Pb+Pb jet measurements from the LHC and ATLAS are expected to substantially advance the understanding of the mechanisms for and physics of jet quenching in the quark gluon plasma.