has identified the following key questions that we believe will drive RHIC science during

the coming decade:

• What are the properties of the strongly-coupled system produced at RHIC, and how does it

thermalize?

• Are the interactions of energetic partons with QCD matter characterized by weak or strong

coupling? What is the detailed mechanism for partonic energy loss?

• Where is the QCD critical point and the associated first-order phase transition line?

• Can we strengthen current evidence for novel symmetries in QCD matter and open new

avenues?

• What other exotic particles are created at RHIC?

• What is the partonic spin structure of the proton?

• How do we go beyond leading twist and collinear factorization in perturbative QCD?

• What is the nature of the initial state in nuclear collisions?

The STAR detector - with its combined large acceptance capabilities for tracking, calorimetry,

and particle identification - is ideally suited to answer these questions in the coming years. Recent

upgrades, including DAQ1000 and the barrel Time-of-Flight system, have already begun to position

STAR for these upcoming studies. Essentially the entire STAR physics program is built around

the Time Projection Chamber (TPC). It will be crucial to ensure that it remains fully operational.

Studies to date of the TPC aging are inconclusive. If future measurements indicate the necessity,

STAR has the capability to rewire the TPC read-out sectors in order to extend the TPC lifetime

for another decade.