Related papers: Constraining the viscous freeze-out distribution f…
We compute v4/(v2)^2 in ideal and viscous hydrodynamics. We investigate its sensitivity to details of the hydrodynamic model and compare the results to experimental data from RHIC. Whereas v2 has a significant sensitivity only to initial…
Using a viscosity-based survival scale for geometrical perturbations formed in the early stages of relativistic heavy-ion collisions, we model the radial flow velocity during freeze-out. Subsequently, we employ the Cooper-Frye freeze-out…
We introduce a positive definite single-particle distribution that is suitable for describing the transition from a macroscopic hydrodynamic to a microscopic kinetic description during the late stages of heavy-ion collisions in the presence…
It has been over a decade since the first experimental data from gold nuclei collisions at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider suggested hydrodynamic behavior. While early ideal hydrodynamical models were surprisingly accurate in their…
Theoretical studies of the production of real thermal photons in relativistic heavy ion collisions at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) are performed. The space-time evolution of the colliding system is modelled using MUSIC, a 3+1D…
In this dissertation I introduce relativistic heavy ion collisions and describe theoretical approaches to understanding them--in particular, viscous hydrodynamic simulations and investigations of final state interactions. The successful…
Using ideal and viscous hydrodynamics, the ratio of azimuthal moments v4/(v2)^2 is calculated for pions, protons, and kaons in sqrt{s}=200 A*GeV Au+Au collisions. For any value of viscosity here is little dependence on particle species.…
We derive relativistic viscous hydrodynamic equations invoking the generalized second law of thermodynamics for two different forms of the non-equilibrium single-particle distribution function. We find that the relaxation times in these two…
We report recent progress on causal viscous hydrodynamics for relativistic heavy ion collisions. For fixed specific shear viscosity eta/s, uncertainties in the elliptic flow arising from initial conditions, equation of state, bulk viscosity…
Longitudinal hydrodynamic expansion of the fluid created in relativistic heavy-collisions is considered taking into account shear viscosity. Both a on-vanishing viscosity and a soft equation of state make particle distributions in rapidity…
The viscosity of the QGP is a presently hotly debated subject. Since its computation from first principles is difficult, it is desirable to try to extract it from experimental data. Viscous hydrodynamics provides a tool that can attack this…
The quantitative extraction of quark-gluon plasma (QGP) properties from heavy-ion data, such as its specific shear viscosity $\eta /s$, typically requires comparison to viscous hydrodynamic or "hybrid" hydrodynamics+transport simulations.…
I review recent developments in the field of relativistic hydrodynamics and its application to the bulk dynamics in heavy-ion collisions at the Relativistic Heavy- Ion Collider (RHIC) and the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). In particular, I…
The specific shear viscosity, $\eta/s$, of the quark-gluon plasma formed in ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions at RHIC and LHC is estimated based on the progressive longitudinal broadening of transverse momentum two-particle…
The matter created in relativistic heavy ion collisions is fairly well described by ideal hydrodynamics, and somewhat better described by viscous hydrodynamics. To this point, most viscous calculations have been two-dimensional, based on an…
Comparing hydrodynamic simulations to heavy-ion data inevitably requires the conversion of the fluid to particles. This conversion, typically done in the Cooper-Frye formalism, is ambiguous for viscous fluids. We compute self-consistent…
We simulate the dynamics of Au+Au collisions at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) with a hybrid model that treats the quark-gluon plasma macroscopically as an ideal fluid, but models the hadron resonance gas microscopically using a…
Comparison of hydrodynamic and "hybrid" hydrodynamics+transport calculations to heavy-ion data inevitably requires the conversion of the fluid to particles. For dissipative fluids the conversion is ambiguous without additional theory input…
We develop a combined hydro-kinetic approach which incorporates a hydrodynamical expansion of the systems formed in \textit{A}+\textit{A} collisions and their dynamical decoupling described by escape probabilities. The method corresponds to…
We study the effects of bulk viscosity on pT spectra and elliptic flow in heavy ion collisions. For this purpose we compute the dissipative correction df to the single particle distribution functions in leading-log QCD, and in several…