English

QCD Viscosity to Entropy Density Ratio in the Hadronic Phase

High Energy Physics - Phenomenology 2008-11-26 v2 Nuclear Experiment Nuclear Theory

Abstract

Shear viscosity (eta) of QCD in the hadronic phase is computed by the coupled Boltzmann equations of pions and nucleons in low temperatures and low baryon number densities. The eta to entropy density ratio eta/s maps out the nuclear gas-liquid phase transition by forming a valley tracing the phase transition line in the temperature-chemical potential plane. When the phase transition turns into a crossover, the eta/s valley gradually disappears. We suspect the general feature for a first-order phase transition is that eta/s has a discontinuity in the bottom of the eta/s valley. The discontinuity coincides with the phase transition line and ends at the critical point. Beyond the critical point, a smooth eta/s valley is seen. However, the valley could disappear further away from the critical point. The eta/s measurements might provide an alternative to identify the critical points.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.hep-ph/0703230,
  title  = {QCD Viscosity to Entropy Density Ratio in the Hadronic Phase},
  author = {Jiunn-Wei Chen and Yen-Han Li and Yen-Fu Liu and Eiji Nakano},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:hep-ph/0703230},
  year   = {2008}
}

Comments

16 pages, 4 figures. Minor typos corrected and references added