Recent highlights from RHIC and completing the RHIC science mission

The Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) has just finished its twenty-third physics run.  This was the first physics run with the completed sPHENIX detector upgrade, and the first physics run of the final physics campaign to complete RHIC's scientific mission as laid out in the 2015 NSAC Long Range Plan. This talk will discuss highlights from that run and prospects for this final campaign, but also update on recent results from analysis of the trove of data collected over RHIC's long history.

RHIC is an extremely flexible accelerator, with a range in center of mass energy of two orders of magnitude and the ability to collide at high luminosity the full range of stable nuclei, from polarized protons to uranium.  Most recently, results have become available from the second Beam Energy Scan, enabled by upgrades to both the machine and the STAR detector, which aims to precisely probe the properties of a medium doped with more matter than antimatter. This talk will discuss these results and others in the context of global capabilities at current and future facilities.