Theoretical overview QM '04

The much wider transverse-momentum range accessible in heavy-ion collisions at RHIC and at the LHC allows us to disentangle the dynamics of partonic equilibration from the dynamics of delayed hadronization. This provides a novel tool for testing the equilibration mechanisms underlying QCD thermodynamics. Here, I argue, on the basis of simple formation-time arguments, why this is so, and I review recent theoretical developments in this context.