English

Freeze-out by bulk viscosity driven instabilities

High Energy Physics - Phenomenology 2008-12-19 v2

Abstract

We describe a new scenario (first introduced in [G. Torrieri, B. Tom\'a\v{s}ik and I. Mishustin, Phys. Rev. C \textbf{77}, 034903 (2008)]) for freezeout in heavy ion collisions that could solve the lingering problems associated with the so-called HBT puzzle. We argue that bulk viscosity increases as TT approaches TcT_c. The fluid {then} becomes unstable against small perturbations, and fragments into clusters of a size much smaller than the total size of the system. These clusters maintain the pre-existing outward-going flow, as a spray of droplets, but develop no flow of their own, and hadronize by evaporation. We show that this scenario can explain HBT data and suggest how it can be experimentally tested.

Cite

@article{arxiv.0803.4070,
  title  = {Freeze-out by bulk viscosity driven instabilities},
  author = {Giorgio Torrieri and Boris Tomášik and Igor Mishustin},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0803.4070},
  year   = {2008}
}

Comments

Minor corrections and reference updates. In press, Acta Physica Polonica B Talk given at the Krakow Epiphany conference, Krakow, 4 - 6 January 2008

R2 v1 2026-06-21T10:25:16.383Z