HEAVY-ION PHYSICS AT THE FUTURE COLLIDERS RHIC AND LHC

By the end of this century, a new regime of very high energy density matter will be accessible in nucleus-nucleus collisions at the new colliders RHIC (Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collider) at BNL and LHC (Large Hadron Collider) at CERN. After a brief description of the main machine parameters, this contribution will summarize the improvements and changes expected for the physics of heavy-ion reactions at these colliders as well as the experimental program planned at RHIC and LHC.