critical $D+Au$ null control, I conclude that the QGP has not only been discovered but that a few of its remarkable properties have already been established experimentally.

The Empirical QGP
=================

The discovery of the gedanken QGP phase of matter in the laboratory requires an empirical definition of the minimal number of necessary and sufficient conditions in terms of experimentally accessible observables. My empirical definition is summarized by the following symbolic equation $${\rm \bf QGP= P_{QCD} + pQCD + dA}
\;\; .
\label{qgpdef}$$ Why are three independent lines of evidence needed? The first term, $\underline{\rm \bf P_{QCD}}$, stands for a class of observables that provide information about its bulk thermodynamic equation of state. The equation of state characterizes its [*long wavelength*]{} nonperturbative thermodynamic properties briefly reviewed in section 1.

The second term, , stands for class of observables that provide direct evidence about its [*short wavelength*]{} dynamics predicted by perturbative QCD. The QCD plasma differs qualitative from familiar abelian QED plasmas due to its unique non-Abelian color field dynamics. The radiative energy loss of energetic short wavelength partons was predicted to lead to striking quenching patterns [@Gyulassy:2003mc]-[@Wang:1992xy] of moderate and high $p_T$ hadrons. The high RHIC cm energy of $200$ 