Shear viscosity in a gluon gas

The relation of the shear viscosity coefficient to the recently introduced transport rate is derived within relativistic kinetic theory. We calculate the shear viscosity over entropy ratio eta/s for a gluon gas, which involves elastic gg-->gg perturbative QCD (PQCD) scatterings as well as inelastic gg<-->ggg PQCD bremsstrahlung. For alpha_{s}=0.3 we find eta/s=0.13 and for alpha_{s}=0.6, eta/s=0.076. The small eta/s values, which suggest strongly coupled systems, are due to the gluon bremsstrahlung incorporated.     

Shear viscosity of CFT plasma at finite coupling

We present evidence for the universality of the shear viscosity of conformal gauge theory plasmas beyond infinite coupling. We comment of subtleties of computing the shear viscosity in effective models of gauge/gravity correspondence rather than in string theory.     

Quark gluon plasma

Recent trends in the research of quark gluon plasma (QGP) are surveyed and the current experimental and theoretical status regarding the properties and signals of QGP is reported. We hope that the experiments commencing at relativistic heavy-ion collider (RHIC) in 2000 will provide a glimpse of the QGP formation.     

Contributions of stochastic background fields to the shear and bulk viscosities of the gluon plasma

The contributions of confining as well as nonconfining nonperturbative self-interactions of stochastic background fields to the shear and bulk viscosities of the gluon plasma in SU(3) Yang-Mills theory are calculated. The nonconfining self-interactions change (specifically, diminish) the values of the shear and bulk viscosities by 15%, that is close to the 17% which the strength of the nonconfining self-interaction amounts to the full strength of nonperturbative self-interactions. The ratios to the entropy density of the obtained nonperturbative contributions to the shear and bulk viscosities are compared with the results of perturbation theory and the predictions of N = 4 SYM.     

Shear viscosity of strongly coupled N = 4 supersymmetric Yang-Mills plasma

Using the anti-de Sitter/conformal field theory correspondence, we relate the shear viscosity eta of the finite-temperature N = 4 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory in the large N, strong-coupling regime with the absorption cross section of low-energy gravitons by a near-extremal black three-brane. We show that in the limit of zero frequency this cross section coincides with the area of the horizon. From this result we find eta = pi / 8N(2)T3. We conjecture that for finite 't Hooft coupling g(2)(YM)N the shear viscosity is eta = f(g(2)(YM)N)N2T3, where f(x) is a monotonic function that decreases from O(x(-2)ln(-1)(1/x)) at small x to pi/8 when x-->infinity.     

Shear viscosity of pseudo hard-spheres

We present molecular dynamics simulations of pseudo hard sphere fluid (generalized WCA potential with exponents (50, 49) proposed by Jover et al. [J. Chem. Phys 137, (2012)] using GROMACS package. The equation of state and radial distribution functions at contact are obtained from simulations and compared to the available theory of true hard spheres (HS) and available data on pseudo hard spheres. The comparison shows agreements with data by Jover et al. and the Carnahan–Starling equation of HS. The shear viscosity is obtained from the simulations and compared to the Enskog expression and previous HS simulations. It is demonstrated that the PHS potential reproduces the HS shear viscosity accurately.     

Equilibration in quark gluon plasma

The hydrodynamic expansion rate of quark gluon plasma (QGP) is evaluated and compared with the scattering rate of quarks and gluons within the system. Partonic scattering rates evaluated within the ambit of perturbative Quantum Choromodynamics (pQCD) are found to be smaller than the expansion rate evaluated with ideal equation of state (EoS) for the QGP. This indicate that during the space-time evolution the system remains out of equilibrium. Enhancement of pQCD cross sections and a more realistic EoS keep the partons closer to the equilibrium.     

Electromagnetic signals of quark gluon plasma

Successive equilibration of quark degrees of freedom and its effects on electromagnetic signals of quark gluon plasma are discussed. The effects of the variation of vector meson masses and decay widths on photon production from hot strongly interacting matter formed after Pb + Pb and S + Au collisions at CERN SPS energies are considered. It has been shown that the present photon spectra measured by WA80 and WA98 Collaborations can not distinguish between the formation of quark matter and hadronic matter in the initial state.     

Transport coefficients of a gluon plasma

Transport coefficients of gluon plasma are calculated for an SU(3) pure gauge model by lattice QCD simulations on 16(3) x 8 and 24(3) x 8 lattices. Simulations are carried out at slightly above the deconfinement transition temperature T(c), where a new state of matter is currently being pursued in BNL RHIC experiments. Our results show that the ratio of the shear viscosity to the entropy is less than one and the bulk viscosity is consistent with zero in the region 1.4 < or = T/T(c) < or = 1.8.     

Shear flows and shear viscosity in a two-dimensional Yukawa system (dusty plasma)

The shear viscosity of a two-dimensional liquid-state dusty plasma was measured experimentally. A monolayer of highly charged polymer microspheres, with a Yukawa interaction, was suspended in a plasma sheath. Two counterpropagating Ar+ laser beams pushed the particles, causing shear-induced melting of the monolayer and a shear flow in a planar Couette configuration. By fitting the particle velocity profiles in the shear flow to a Navier-Stokes model, the kinematic viscosity was calculated; it was of order 1 mm(2) s(-1), depending on the monolayer's parameters and shear stress applied.     

Shear viscosity of polymer and surfactant monolayers

The surface shear viscosity of monolayers formed at the surface of water by adsorbed polyethyl- eneoxyde and by stearic acid is measured as a function of the surface pressure of the monolayer using a new surface viscometer. The principle of the viscometer is the measurement of the drag force on a circular disk undergoing a uniform translation at the water surface: a hydrodynamic model based on the lubrication approximation allows a calculation of the surface viscosities from the absolute measurement of the drag forces. Received: 26 August 1999     

Shear viscosity and entropy of quark matter

We consider the shear viscosity of a system of quarks and its ratio to the entropy density above the critical temperature for deconfinement. Expressions for both quantities are derived in the quasi-particle approximation and calculations are carried out for different modeling of the quark self-energy, also allowing for a temperature dependence of the effective mass and width. Beyond the temperature dependence, the behaviour of the viscosity and the entropy density is discussed in terms of the strength of the coupling and of the main characteristics of the quark self-energy. A comparison with existing approaches is also discussed.     

Collective thermalization in quark gluon plasma

A very important question in ultrarelativistic heavy ion collisions is that of thermalization of the high energy density quark gluon plasma forud in the central rapidity region. Different approaches have been adopted by various authors to study this thermalization problem. These include phenomenological string and capacitor plate models, perturbative QCD based parton cascade models and the classical non-perturbative approach. In this paper we briefly review the earlier studies and discuss our work which emphasizes the role of non-perturbative collective effects (classical chaos) in the thermalization of the plasma. In particular, using classical equations of motion of a coloured parton in self-consistent colour fields, we have carried out a 1+1 dimensional simulation of coloured partonic matter. We find that in certain parameter domains, the system exhibits chaotic behaviour in non-abelian plasma oscillations, which then leads to thermalization of the plasma.     

Status of the quark gluon plasma search

A selection of results are discussed that support the conclusion that strongly interacting quark gluon plasma is produced in heavy-ion collisions at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider at BNL.     

Influence of the nuclear bulk properties and the MIT bag constant on the phase transition to the quark gluon plasma

We consider the influence of the bulk properties of nuclear matter, namely the ground state incompressibility and the effective nucleon mass, and of the MIT bag constant on the phase transition from hadron matter to quark gluon plasma. It is mainly the effective nucleon mass which determines the stiffness of the equation of state and therefore also the behaviour of the phase transition curves. The energy densities in the coexistence region are found to increase for finite chemical potentials and softer equations of state up to 10 GeV/fm³. For small bag constants and for softer nuclear equations of state the phase boundary exhibits unusual deformations, due to the fact that the phase transition sets in already at pressures not too far from the saturation value. Although this would increase the experimental possibility to create the QGP, it is more likely that one must regard bag constants in the range of the original MIT value as not producing a realistic behaviour of the quark-hadron matter phase transition in the context of an MIT bag equation of state for the quark side.     

Strangeness production and evolution in quark gluon plasma

The formation and evolution of strange quarks in quark gluon plasma is studied assuming perturbative QCD and qualitative models of plasma phase expansion. Chemical equilibrium abundance characteristic of the hottest and densest phase of nuclear collisions is proven to survive the process of expansion and cooling of the plasma.