Particle and nuclear scattering at large momentum transfers

The concept of the quark is nowadays the basic one in the theory of strong interactions. The study of high-energy nuclear interactions makes it possible to obtain information about multiquark states and possibly about a new state of nuclear matter, the quark-gluon plasma. An introduction of the basic concepts and variables of relativistic nuclear physics is given. The most essential experimental data on the interactions of relativistic nuclei and a brief discussion of perspectives are presented.