Heavy Ion Collisions: An Overview of Experimental Measurements of the Quark Gluon Plasma*

High-energy heavy ion collisions create a hot dense medium known as the Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP). Quarks and gluons, which are normally confined within protons and neutrons, behave as free particles in the QGP. Quantifying the properties of the QGP provides insight for understanding the nuclear strong force and quantum chromodynamics under extreme conditions. Results from experiments at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) and the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and their interpretation will be presented.