Pion condensation and other abnormal states of matter

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Abstract
In this review the author considers abnormal states of matter; that is, the phase transitions induced in matter placed in an abnormal environment. He considers matter in huge magnetic fields such as might be associated with pulsars, the effects of supercritical electric fields such as might be produced by the concentration of electric charge during a collision between extremely heavy ions, and briefly comments on the nature of the phase transition induced by supercritical gravitational fields (black holes). However, the bulk of this article reviews the behaviour of matter at extremely high densities, i.e. densities in excess of 2.8*1014 g cm-3, corresponding to supercritical strong interaction fields associated with an abnormal concentration of baryon number. Such an environment may be produced in the cores of neutron stars or in nuclear shock waves induced in nuclei as a result of extremely energetic heavy-ion collisions.