This book presents new experimental tools and theoretical concepts of collective nonequilibrium behavior of quantum systems. The book is based on the Les Houches Summer School of August 2012, "Strongly interacting quantum systems out of equilibrium".

Over the last decade new experimental tools and theoretical concepts are providing new insights into collective nonequilibrium behavior of quantum systems. The exquisite control provided by laser trapping and cooling techniques allows us to observe the behavior of condensed bose and degenerate Fermi gases under nonequilibrium drive or after `quenches' in which a Hamiltonian parameter is suddenly or slowly changed. On the solid state front, high intensity short-time pulses and fast (femtosecond) probes allow solids to be put into highly excited states and probed before relaxation and dissipation occur. Experimental developments are matched by progress in theoretical techniques ranging from exact solutions of strongly interacting nonequilibrium models to new approaches to nonequilibrium numerics. The summer school `Strongly interacting quantum systems out of equilibrium' held at the Les Houches School of Physics as its XCIX session was designed to summarize this progress, lay out the open questions and define directions for future work. This books collects the lecture notes of the main courses given in this summer school.

Coverage of the XVIIth Solvay Conference on Physics, held at the Universit? Libre in Brussels from November 20 to November 24, 1978. Provides an account of the different areas of physics where transition to ordered behavior occurs, and reveals the similarities and differences of involved concepts and techniques.

Nuclear and particle physicists are searching for evidence of a new state of elementary matter with the constituents of nucleons and quarks, roaming freely in a deconfined state known as the quark-gluon plasma. To create the required conditions for this new phase to occur in the laboratory, relativistic heavy ion experimental facilities have been developed where heavy nuclei can collide at highly relativistic energies. Such collisions have the potential to provide, albeit for a very short time duration, the high energy density and temperature within an extended elementary volume, allowing the formation of this new phase. This text, co-authored by many experts, provides an elementary introduction and also surveys current experimental accomplishments. Many students participated in the write up of the lectures which are thus at an accessible level. An introduction to the research program in Latin America is offered in the spirit of the Pan-American Advanced Study Institute.