We consider the longitudinal hydrodynamic evolution of the fireball created in a relativistic heavy-ion collision. Nonzero shear viscosity reduces the colling rate of the system and hinders the acceleration of the longitudinal flow. As a consequence, the initial energy density needed to reproduce the experimental data at RHIC energies is significantly reduced. At LHC energies, we expect that shear viscosity helps to conserve a Bjorken plateau in the rapidity distributions during the expansion.
Hydrodynamic behavior and the associated discussions of viscosity at RHIC has inspired a r enaissance in modeling viscous hydrodynamics. An explanation of Israel-Stewart hydrodynamics is presented here, with an emphasis on the tangible benefits compared to Navier Stokes.
We show from covariant transport theory that, for a massless ideal gas equation of state, even a small shear viscosity to entropy density ratio $η\approx s/(4 π)$ generates significant 15-30% dissipative corrections to elliptic flow for conditions expected in mid-peripheral (b = 8 fm) Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}} \sim 200$ GeV at RHIC.
We study the effects of bulk viscosity on p_T spectra and elliptic flow in heavy ion collisions at RHIC. We argue that direct effect of the bulk viscosity on the evolution of the velocity field is small, but corrections to the freezeout distributions can be significant. These effects are dominated by chemical non-equilibration in the hadronic phase. We show that a non-zero bulk viscosity in the range $ζ/s \lsim 0.05$ improves the description of spectra and flow at RHIC.
A variety of physical phenomena can lead to viscous effects. In this talk we review several sources of shear and bulk viscosity with an emphasis on the bulk viscosity associated with chiral restoration. We show that in the limit of a second order phase transition, the viscosity peaks in a singularity at the critical point.
A variety of physical phenomena can lead to viscous effects. Several sources of shear and bulk viscosity are reviewed with an emphasis on the bulk viscosity associated with chiral restoration and with chemical non-equilibrium. We show that in a mean-field treatment of the limiting case of a second order phase transition, the bulk viscosity peaks in a singularity at the critical point.
Correlation studies exhibit a ridge-like feature in rapidity and azimuthal angle, with and without a jet trigger. We ask whether the feature in untriggered correlations can be a consequence of transverse flow and viscous diffusion.
We describe ultra-relativistic heavy ion collisions at RHIC and the LHC with a hybrid model using the IP-Glasma model for the earliest stage and viscous hydrodynamics and microscopic transport for the later stages of the collision. We demonstrate that within this framework the bulk viscosity of the plasma plays an important role in describing the experimentally observed radial flow and azimuthal anisotropy simultaneously. We further investigate the dependence of observables on the temperature below which we employ the microscopic transport description.
We report recent progress on causal viscous hydrodynamics for relativistic heavy ion collisions. For fixed specific shear viscosity eta/s, uncertainties in the elliptic flow arising from initial conditions, equation of state, bulk viscosity and numerical viscosity, and the treatment of the highly viscous hadronic stage and freeze-out procedure are analysed. A comparison of current viscous hydrodynamic results with experimental data yields a robust upper limit eta/s < 5/(4pi).
In this article, we briefly review the recent progress related to extracting the quark-gluon plasma (QGP) specific shear viscosity from the flow data measured at Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collider (RHIC) and the Large Hadron Collider (LHC).
The interplay between shear and bulk viscosities on the flow harmonics, $v_n$'s, at RHIC is investigated using the newly developed relativistic 2+1 hydrodynamical code v-USPhydro that includes bulk and shear viscosity effects both in the hydrodynamic evolution and also at freeze-out. While shear viscosity is known to attenuate the flow harmonics, we find that the inclusion of bulk viscosity decreases the shear viscosity-induced suppression of the flow harmonics bringing them closer to their values in ideal hydrodynamical calculations. Depending on the value of the bulk viscosity to entropy den…
Relativistic viscous hydrodynamic fits to RHIC data on the centrality dependence of multiplicity, transverse and elliptic flow for sqrt{s}=200 GeV Au+Au collisions are presented. For Glauber-type initial conditions, while data on integrated v_2 is consistent with a ratio of viscosity over entropy density up to eta/s=0.16, data on minimum bias v_2 seems to favor a much smaller viscosity over entropy ratio, below the bound from the AdS/CFT conjecture. Some caveats on this result are discussed.
Within a covariant parton cascade, we discuss the impact of both finite shear viscosity $η$ and freeze-out dynamics on the elliptic flow generated at RHIC. We find that the enhancement of $η/s$ in the cross-over region of the QGP phase transition cannot be neglected in order to extract the information from the QGP phase. We also point out that the elliptic flow $v_2(p_T)$ for a fluid at $η/s \sim 0.1-0.2$ is consistent with the one needed by quark number scaling drawing a nice consistency between the nearly perfect fluid property of QGP and the coalescence process.
We study real photons produced in heavy ion collisions at RHIC, and we calculate their spectrum and its azimuthal momentum anisotropy. The photons from a variety of sources are included, and the interplay and the time-evolution of those sources are modelled in a full 3D hydrodynamic simulation. We quantify the v_2 of thermal photons produced in ideal and viscous fluids, and the consequences of using different initial conditions are explored.
In this proceeding, we briefly describe the viscous hydrodynamics + hadron cascade hybrid model VISHNU for relativistic heavy ion collisions and report the current status on extracting the QGP viscosity from elliptic flow data.
In an earlier work (arXiv:0808.0953) we established that causal Israel-Stewart viscous hydrodynamics is only accurate in RHIC applications at very low shear viscosities 4 pi eta_s / s < ~ 1.5-2. We show here that the region of applicability is significantly reduced if bulk viscosity plays a role in the dynamics.
The specific shear viscosity (eta/s)_QGP of quark-gluon plasma (QGP) can be extracted from elliptic flow data in heavy-ion collisions by comparing them with the dynamical model VISHNU which couples a viscous fluid dynamic description of the QGP with a microscopic kinetic description of the late hadronic rescattering and freeze-out stage. A robust method for fixing (eta/s)_QGP from the collision centrality dependence of the eccentricity-scaled charged hadron elliptic flow is presented. The systematic uncertainties associated with this extraction method are discussed, with specific attention to …
Experiments at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) suggest that the state of matter produced in the experiments has a low shear-viscosity to entropy-density ratio. We ask here the question what is this ratio in usual finite nuclei at low temperature. We use the experimental and theoretical results for the widths of giant vibrational states in nuclei in order to calculate the above ratio. We find that the values of this ratio are not very different from the ones found in the RHIC experiments.
Elliptic flow measurements at RHIC suggest that quark gluon plasma flows with very little viscosity compared to weak coupling expectations, challenging theorists to explain why this fluid is so nearly ``perfect''. It is therefore vital to find quantitative experimental information on the viscosity of the plasma. We propose that measurements of transverse momentum fluctuations can be used to determine the shear viscosity. We use current data to estimate the viscosity-to-entropy ratio in the range from 0.08 to 0.3, and discuss how future measurements can reduce this uncertainty.
In the Israel-Stewart's theory of dissipative hydrodynamics, we have analysed the STAR data on $ϕ$ meson production in Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s}$=200 GeV. From a simultaneous fit to $ϕ$ mesons multiplicity, mean $p_T$ and integrated $v_2$, we obtain a phenomenological estimate of QGP viscosity, $η/s =0.07 \pm 0.03 \pm 0.14$, the first error is due to the experimental uncertainty in STAR measurements, the second reflects the uncertainties in initial and final conditions of the fluid.
Using ideal and viscous hydrodynamics, the ratio of azimuthal moments v4/(v2)^2 is calculated for pions, protons, and kaons in sqrt{s}=200 A*GeV Au+Au collisions. For any value of viscosity here is little dependence on particle species. Ideal hydrodynamics and data show a flat curve as a function of pt. Adding viscosity in the standard way destroys this flatness. However, it can be restored by replacing the standard quadratic ansatz for delta f (the viscous correction to the distribution function at freeze-out) with a weaker momentum dependence.
The hydrodynamic model for the expansion of the fireball in relativistic heavy-ion collisions is presented. Calculations using relativistic hydrodynamics of a fluid with small viscosity yield a satisfactory description of the experimental data on the particle spectra, the elliptic flow or the interferometry radii.
In this article, we briefly review recent progress on hydrodynamic modeling and its implementations to relativistic heavy-ion collisions at RHIC and the LHC. The related topics include: 1) initial state fluctuations, final state correlations and event-by-event hydrodynamics, 2) extracting the QGP shear viscosity from flow data, 3) flow and hydrodynamics in 5.02 A TeV p+Pb collisions.
This work reports on investigations of the effects on the evolution of viscous hydrodynamics and on the flow coefficients of thermal dileptons, originating from a temperature-dependent specific shear viscosity $η/s (T)$ at temperatures beyond 180 MeV formed at the Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collider (RHIC). We show that the elliptic flow of thermal dileptons can resolve the magnitude of $η/s$ at the high temperatures, where partonic degrees of freedom become relevant, whereas discriminating between different specific functional forms will likely not be possible at RHIC using this observable.
We compute the initial energy densities produced in ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions from NLO perturbative QCD using a saturation conjecture to control soft particle production, and describe the subsequent space-time evolution of the system with hydrodynamics, event by event. The resulting centrality dependence of the low-$p_T$ observables from this pQCD + saturation + hydro ("EKRT") framework are then compared simultaneously to the LHC and RHIC measurements. With such an analysis we can test the initial state calculation, and constrain the temperature dependence of the shear viscosity-t…
Recent hexadecapole (v4) and elliptic (v2) flow measurements are used to constrain estimates for the degree of local equilibrium, mean free path $λ$, and the viscosity to entropy density ratio (eta/s) of the plasma produced in Au+Au collisions at RootS = 200 GeV. The eccentricity-scaled flow coefficients v2/e2 and v4/e4 indicate that the plasma achieves a degree of local equilibrium within 5 - 10% of the value expected for a fluid with eta/s equal to the conjectured lower bound of 1/4pi. Estimates for $λ$ and eta/s as a function of collision centrality and particle transverse momentum pT, poin…
Ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions at the Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collider (RHIC) are thought to have produced a state of matter called the Quark-Gluon-Plasma, characterized by a very small shear viscosity to entropy density ratio $η/s$, near the lower bound predicted for that quantity by Anti-deSitter space/Conformal Field Theory (AdS/CFT) methods. As the produced matter expands and cools, it evolves through a phase described by a hadron gas with rapidly increasing $η/s$. We calculate $η/s$ as a function of temperature in this phase and find that its value poses a challenge for viscous rel…
We predict how differential elliptic flow v2(pT) changes from RHIC to LHC collision energies (Pb+Pb at 5.5 TeV/nucleon), ASSUMING that the quark-gluon system created has a ``minimal'' shear viscosity eta/s = 1/(4*pi) at both RHIC and the LHC.
The particle spectra and Hanbury-Brown Twiss (HBT) radius of Au+Au collisions at RHIC energy are investigated by a hydrodynamical expanding source with both shear and bulk viscosities ($ζ$). With a large width of the ratio of $ζ$ to entropy density $s$, both the particle transverse momentum spectra and the ratio $R_{out}/R_{side}$ of HBT radii in the direction of the total transverse momentum of detected two particles ($R_{out}$) and perpendicular to both this direction and the beam direction ($R_{side}$) become a little steeper.
We investigate the effects of a temperature-dependent shear viscosity over entropy density ratio eta/s on the flow anisotropy coefficients v_2 and v_4 in ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions at RHIC and LHC. We find that v_4 is more sensitive to the viscosity at low temperatures than v_2. At RHIC v_2 is mostly affected by the viscosity around the phase transition, but the larger the collision energy, the more the quark-gluon plasma viscosity affects v_2.
We show that the centrality and system-size dependence of elliptic flow measured at RHIC are fully described by a simple model based on eccentricity scaling and incomplete thermalization. We argue that the elliptic flow is at least 25% below the (ideal) ``hydrodynamic limit'', even for the most central Au-Au collisions. This lack of perfect equilibration allows for estimates of the effective parton cross section in the Quark-Gluon Plasma and of its viscosity to entropy density ratio. We also show how the initial conditions affect the transport coefficients and thermodynamic quantities extracte…
We compare 2->2 covariant transport theory and causal Israel-Stewart hydrodynamics in 2+1D longitudinally boost invariant geometry with RHIC-like initial conditions and a conformal e = 3p equation of state. The pressure evolution in the center of the collision zone and the final differential elliptic flow v2(pT) from the two theories agree remarkably well for a small shear viscosity to entropy density ratio eta/s ~ 1/(4 pi), and also for a large cross section sigma ~ 50 mb. A key to this agreement is keeping ALL terms in the Israel-Stewart equations of motion. Our results indicate promising pr…
We perform viscous hydrodynamic calculations in 2+1 dimensions to investigate the influence of bulk viscosity on the viscous suppression of elliptic flow in non-central heavy-ion collisions at RHIC energies. Bulk and shear viscous effects on the evolution of radial and elliptic flow are studied with different model assumptions for the transport coefficients. We find that the temperature dependence of the relaxation time for the bulk viscous pressure, especially its critical slowing down near the quark-hadron phase transition at T_c, partially offsets effects from the strong growth of the bulk …
Starting from IP-Glasma initial conditions, we investigate the effects of bulk pressure on thermal dilepton production at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) and the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) energies. Though results of the thermal dilepton $v_2$ under the influence of both bulk and shear viscosity is presented for top RHIC energy, more emphasis is put on LHC energy where such a calculation is computed for the first time. The effects of the bulk pressure on thermal dilepton $v_2$ at the LHC are explored through bulk-induced modifications on the dilepton yield.
An important ingredient for the non-equilibrium evolution of partons at RHIC and LHC is to have some physically reasonable initial conditions for the single particle phase space distribution functions for the partons. We consider several plausible parametrizations of initial conditions for the single particle distribution function f_i(x,p) and fix the parameters by matching \int f(x,p)p^μd σ_μto the invariant momentum space semi-hard parton distributions obtained using perturbative QCD (pQCD), as well as fitting low order moments of the distribution function. We consider parametrizations of f_…
We compute v4/(v2)^2 in ideal and viscous hydrodynamics. We investigate its sensitivity to details of the hydrodynamic model and compare the results to experimental data from RHIC. Whereas v2 has a significant sensitivity only to initial eccentricity and viscosity while being insensitive to freeze out temperature, we find that v4/(v2)^2 is quite insensitive to initial eccentricity. On the other hand, it can still be sensitive to shear viscosity in addition to freeze out temperature, although viscous effects do not universally increase v4/(v2)^2 as originally predicted. Consistent with data, we…
We present a 3-D hydro + cascade model in which viscosity and a realistic freezeout process for the hadronic phase are taken into account. We compare our results to experimental data and discuss the finite state interaction effects on physical observables.
We present event-by-event viscous hydrodynamic calculations of the anisotropic flow coefficients v_2 to v_5 for heavy-ion collisions at the Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collider (RHIC). We study the dependence of different flow harmonics on shear viscosity and the morphology of the initial state. v_3 and higher flow harmonics exhibit a particularly strong dependence on both the initial granularity and shear viscosity. We argue that a combined analysis of all available flow harmonics will allow to determine eta/s of the quark gluon plasma precisely. Presented results strongly hint at a value (eta/s)_…
In this work, we have extracted the initial tempearture from the transverse momentum spectra of charged particles in $Au+Au$ collisions using STAR data at RHIC energies from $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 7.7 to 200 GeV. The initial energy density ($\varepsilon$), shear viscosity to entropy density ratio ($η/s$), trace anomaly ($Δ$), the squared speed of sound ($C_s^2$), entropy density, and bulk viscosity to entropy density ratio ($ζ/s$) are obtained and compared with the lattice QCD calculations for (2+1) flavor. The initial temperatures obtained are compared with various hadronization and chemical freez…
We solve second order relativistic hydrodynamics equations for a boost-invariant 1+1-dimensional expanding fluid with an equation of state taken from lattice calculations of the thermodynamics of strongly coupled quark-gluon plasma. We investigate the dependence of the energy density as a function of proper time on the values of the shear viscosity, the bulk viscosity, and second order coefficients, confirming that large changes in the values of the latter have negligible effects. Varying the shear viscosity between zero and a few times s/(4 pi), with s the entropy density, has significant eff…
We solve the relativistic Navier-Stokes equations with homogeneous boost-invariant boundary conditions, and perform a stability analysis of the solution. We show that, if the bulk viscosity has a peak around $T_c$ as inferred from QCD-based arguments, the background solution "freezes" at $T_c$ to a nearly constant temperature state. This state is however highly unstable with respect to certain inhomogeneous modes. Calculations show that these modes have enough time to blow up and tear the system into droplets. We conjecture that this is how freeze-out occurs in the QGP created in heavy ion col…
It is by now well known that the relativistic heavy-ion collisions at RHIC, BNL have produced a strongly interacting fluid with remarkable properties, among them the lowest ever observed ratio of the coefficient of shear viscosity to entropy density. Arguments based on ideas from the String Theory, in particular the AdS/CFT correspondence, led to the conjecture --- now known to be violated --- that there is an absolute lower limit $1/4 π$ on the value of this ratio. Causal viscous hydrodynamics calculations together with the RHIC data have put an upper limit on this ratio, a small multiple of …
Recently, transport coefficients viz. shear viscosity, electrical conductivity etc. of strongly interacting matter produced in heavy-ion collisions have drawn considerable interest. We study the normalised electrical conductivity ($σ_{\rm el}$/T) of hot QCD matter as a function of temperature (T) using the Color String Percolation Model (CSPM). We also study the temperature dependence of shear viscosity and its ratio with electrical conductivity for the QCD matter. We compare CSPM estimations with various existing results and lattice Quantum Chromodynamics (lQCD) predictions with (2+1) dynamic…
We consider dissipative phenomena due to the relaxation of an initial anisotropic local pressure in the fireball created in relativistic heavy-ion collisions, both for the Bjorken boost-invariant case and for the azimuthally symmetric radial expansion with boost-invariance. The resulting increase of the entropy can be counterbalanced by a suitable retuning of the initial temperature. An increase of the transverse collective flow is observed. The influence of the shear viscosity on the longitudinal expansion is also studied. Viscosity reduces the cooling rate from the longitudinal work and coun…
We have evaluated the shear viscosity of pion gas taking into account its scattering with the low mass resonances, $σ$ and $ρ$ during propagation in the medium. The thermal width (or collisional rate) of the pions is calculated from $πσ$ and $πρ$ loop diagrams using effective interactions in the real time formulation of finite temperature field theory. A very small value of shear viscosity by entropy density ratio ($η/s$), close to the KSS bound, is obtained which approximately matches the range of values of $η/s$ used by Niemi et al. \cite{Niemi} in order to fit the RHIC data of elliptic flow…
We study the viscosity and thermodynamic properties of QGP at RHIC by employing the recently extracted equilibrium distribution functions from two hot QCD equations of state of $O(g^5)$ and $O(g^6\ln(1/g))$ respectively. After obtaining the temperature dependence of energy density, and entropy density, we focus our attention on the determination of shear viscosity for a rapidly expanding interacting plasma, as a function of temperature. We find that interactions significantly decrease the shear viscosity. They decrease the viscosity to entropy density ratio, $η/{\mathcal S}$ as well.
The relativistic hydrodynamic model is applied to describe the expansion of the dense matter formed in relativistic heavy-ion collisions. The hydrodynamic expansion of the fluid, supplemented with the statistical emission of hadrons at freeze-out gives a satisfactory description of the observables for particles emitted with soft momenta. Experimental data for the transverse momentum spectra, elliptic flow and interferometry radii give constraints on the properties of the fluid, its equation of state and viscosity coefficients. The role of the fluctuations of the initial profile of the energy d…
The eddy viscosity for a turbulent compressible fluid with a relativistic equation of state is derived. Compressibility allows for sound modes, but the eddy viscosity in the shear mode is found to be the same as for incompressible fluids. For two space dimensions (which is the relevant case for the dynamics of relativistic heavy-ion collisions) the eddy viscosity in the shear mode is negative, reducing the effective viscosity below its microscopic value. This could explain the tiny viscosity found at RHIC. Implications for the experimentally accessible elliptic flow coefficient at the LHC are …
The effect of a temperature dependent bulk viscosity to entropy density ratio~($ζ/s$) along with a constant shear viscosity to entropy density ratio~($η/s$) on the space time evolution of the fluid produced in high energy heavy ion collisions have been studied in a relativistic viscous hydrodynamics model. The boost invariant Israel-Stewart theory of causal relativistic viscous hydrodynamics is used to simulate the evolution of the fluid in 2 spatial and 1 temporal dimension. The dissipative correction to the freezeout distribution for bulk viscosity is calculated using Grad's fourteen moment …
In this paper, we investigate the kinetic freeze-out properties in relativistic heavy ion collisions at different collision energies. We present a study of standard Boltzmann-Gibbs Blast-Wave (BGBW) fits and Tsallis Blast-Wave (TBW) fits performed on the transverse momentum spectra of identified hadrons produced in Au + Au collisions at collision energies of $\sqrt{s_{\rm{NN}}}=$ 7.7 - 200 GeV at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC), and in Pb + Pb collisions at collision energies of $\sqrt{s_{\rm{NN}}}=$ 2.76 and 5.02 TeV at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The behavior of strange and m…
Background: The near-equilibrium properties of a QCD plasma can be encoded into transport coefficients such as bulk and shear viscosity. In QCD, the ratio of these transport coefficients to entropy density, $ζ/s$ and $η/s$, depends non-trivially on the plasma's temperature. Purpose: We show that in a 0+1D boost-invariant fluid, a temperature-dependent $ζ/s(T)$ or $η/s(T)$ can be described by an equivalent effective viscosity $\left\langle ζ/s \right\rangle_{\textrm{eff}}$ or $\left\langle η/s \right\rangle_{\textrm{eff}}$. We extend the concept of effective viscosity in systems with transverse…
We study the influence of a temperature-dependent shear viscosity over entropy density ratio $η/s$, different shear relaxation times $τ_π$, as well as different initial conditions on the transverse momentum spectra of charged hadrons and identified particles. We investigate the azimuthal flow asymmetries as a function of both collision energy and centrality. The elliptic flow coefficient turns out to be dominated by the hadronic viscosity at RHIC energies. Only at higher collision energies the impact of the viscosity in the QGP phase is visible in the flow asymmetries. Nevertheless, the shear …
We study chemical equilibration of quarks and gluons in central nuclear collisions at RHIC and LHC energies. The initial quark and gluon densities are taken from earlier studies as well as from recent perturbative QCD estimates and are then evolved via rate equations coupled to longitudinally boost-invariant fluid dynamics. We find that, for RHIC initial conditions, the lifetime of quark-gluon matter is too short in order for the quark and gluon number densities to chemically equilibrate prior to hadronization. In contrast, at LHC energies chemical equilibration is complete before the system h…
I solve the Relativistic Navier Stokes Equations assuming boost invariance and rotational symmetry. I compare the resulting numerical solutions for two limiting models of the shear viscosity. In the first model the shear viscosity is made proportional to the temperature. Thus, $η\propto T/σ_0$ where $σ_0$ is some fixed cross section (perhaps $σ_0 \sim Λ_{QCD}^{-2}$) . This viscosity model is typical of the classical Boltzmann simulations of Gyulassy and Molnar. In the second model the shear viscosity is made proportional to $T^3$. This model is typical of high temperature QCD. When the initial…
The bulk viscosity, $ζ$ and its ratio with the shear viscosity, $ζ/η$ have been studied in an anisotropically expanding pure glue plasma in the presence of turbulent color fields. It has been shown that the anisotropy in the momentum distribution function of gluons, which has been determined from a linearized transport equation eventually leads to the bulk viscosity. For the isotropic (equilibrium) state, a recently proposed quasi-particle model of pure SU(3) lattice QCD equation of state has been employed where the interactions are encoded in the effective fugacity. It has been argued that th…
The shear ($η$) and bulk ($ζ$) viscosities are calculated in a quasiparticle relaxation time approximation for a hadron matter described within the relativistic mean-field based model with scaled hadron masses and couplings. Comparison with results of other models is presented. We demonstrate that a small value of the shear viscosity to entropy density ratio required for explaining a large elliptic flow observed at RHIC may be reached in the hadron phase. Large values of the bulk viscosity are noted in case of the baryon enriched matter.
This work calculates the first correction to the leading order qq dilepton production rates due to shear viscosity in an expanding gas. The modified rates are integrated over the space-time history of a viscous hydrodynamic simulation of RHIC collisions. The net result is a {\em hardening} of $q_\perp$ spectrum with the magnitude of the correction increasing with invariant mass. We argue that a thermal description is reliable for invariant masses less than $M_{max}\approx(2τ_0 T_0^2)/(η/s)$. For reasonable values of the shear viscosity and thermalization time $M_{max}\approx 4.5$ GeV. Finally,…
Current experiments at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) are probing finite baryon densities where the shear viscosity to enthalpy ratio $ηT/w$ of the Quark Gluon Plasma remains unknown. We use the Hadron Resonance Gas (HRG) model with the most up-to-date hadron list to calculate $ηT/w$ at low temperatures and at finite baryon densities $ρ_B$. We then match $ηT/w$ to a QCD-based shear viscosity calculation within the deconfined phase to create a table across $\left\{T,μ_B\right\}$ for different cross-over and critical point scenarios at a specified location. We find that these new $ηT…
We study the \textit{non-ideal} effects arising due to viscosity (both bulk and shear), equation of state ($ε\neq 3P$) and cavitation on thermal dilepton production from QGP at RHIC energies. We calculate the first order corrections to the dilepton production rates due to shear and bulk viscosities. Ignoring the cavitation can lead to a wrong estimation of dilepton spectra. We show that the shear viscosity can enhance the thermal dilepton spectra whereas the bulk viscosity can suppress it. We present the combined effect of bulk and shear viscosities on the dilepton spectra.
