Hydrodynamics in Heavy Ion Collisions and QCD Equation of State (April 21-22, 2008)

摘要

The interpretation of relativistic heavy-ion collisions at RHIC energies with thermal concepts is largely based on the relative success of ideal (nondissipative) hydrodynamics. This approach can describe basic observables at RHIC, such as particle spectra and momentum anisotropies, fairly well. On the other hand, recent theoretical efforts indicate that dissipation can play a significant role. Ideally viscous hydrodynamic simulations would extract, if not only the equation of state, but also transport coefficients from RHIC data. There has been a lot of progress with solving relativistic viscous hydrodynamics. There are already large uncertainties in ideal hydrodynamics calculations, e.g., uncertainties associated with initial conditions, freezeout, and the simplified equations of state typically utilized. One of the most sensitive observables to the equation of state is the baryon momentum anisotropy, which is also affected by freezeout assumptions. Up-to-date results from lattice quantum chromodynamics on the transition temperature and equation of state with realistic quark masses are currently available. However, these have not yet been incorporated into the hydrodynamic calculations. Therefore, the RBRC workshop 'Hydrodynamics in Heavy Ion Collisions and QCD Equation of State' aimed at getting a better understanding of the theoretical frameworks for dissipation and near-equilibrium dynamics in heavy-ion collisions. The topics discussed during the workshop included techniques to solve the dynamical equations and examine the role of initial conditions and decoupling, as well as the role of the equation of state and transport coefficients in current simulations.