2007/10/01 by Paul Romatschke · 3 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Black Holes and Theoretical Physics #High-Energy Particle Collisions Research #Particle physics theoretical and experimental studies #hep-ph #nucl-ex #nucl-th #physics.flu-dyn
paper · pdf · doi:10.1143/ptps.174.137
published as Prog.Theor.Phys.Suppl.174:137-144,2008 · 4 pages, 1 figure, uses revtex4
arxiv created 2007/10/01 · openalex publication_date 2008/01/01 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
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. Speculations on the experimentally accessible elliptic flow coefficient at the LHC are discussed.