English

Second order viscous corrections to the harmonic spectrum in heavy ion collisions

Nuclear Theory 2014-01-15 v2 High Energy Physics - Phenomenology

Abstract

We calculate the second order viscous correction to the kinetic distribution, δf(2)\delta f_{(2)}, and use this result in a hydrodynamic simulation of heavy ion collisions to determine the complete second order correction to the harmonic spectrum, vnv_n. At leading order in a conformal fluid, the first viscous correction is determined by one scalar function, χ0p\chi_{0p}. One moment of this scalar function is constrained by the shear viscosity. At second order in a conformal fluid, we find that δf(\p)\delta f(\p) can be characterized by two scalar functions of momentum, χ1p\chi_{1p} and χ2p\chi_{2p}. The momentum dependence of these functions is largely determined by the kinematics of the streaming operator. Again, one moment of these functions is constrained by the parameters of second order hydrodynamics, τπ\tau_\pi and λ1\lambda_1. The effect of δf(2)\delta f_{(2)} on the integrated flow is small (up to v4v_4), but is quite important for the higher harmonics at modestly-large pTp_T. Generally, δf(2)\delta f_{(2)} increases the value of vnv_n at a given pTp_T, and is most important in small systems.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1304.3753,
  title  = {Second order viscous corrections to the harmonic spectrum in heavy ion collisions},
  author = {Derek Teaney and Li Yan},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1304.3753},
  year   = {2014}
}

Comments

20 pages and 3 figures. version has a slightly improved numerics for v5