Shock waves in colliding nuclei

We consider the circumstances under which nuclear matter at high densities can be produced in heavy ion collisions. We argue that lab energies of a few hundred MeV per nucleon will be suitable : the matter velocity will exceed the speed of isentropic compression waves, while the nuclear matter has sufficient stopping power to generate a shock front. From the hydrodynamic conservation laws we show that there is a maximum attainable compression ratio ν_∞, determined by the thermal properties of the high-density matter. In an independent-fermion model, ν_∞ = 4, but it can be much larger if the phase of the system changes, for example by excitation of nucleon isobars, production of π-mesons, or the scalar-field condensation conjectured by Lee and Wick. We discuss the propagation of the shock front and subsequent decompression of the dense, hot matter.