The Thermodynamics of Quarks and Gluons

This is an introduction to the study of strongly interacting matter. We survey its different possible states and discuss the transition from hadronic matter to a plasma of deconfined quarks and gluons. Following this, we summarize the results provided by lattice QCD finite temperature and density, and then investigate the nature of the deconfinement transition. Finally we give a schematic overview of possible ways to study the properties of the quark-gluon plasma.