The electric conductivity of a hot quark-gluon plasma is obtained numerically by solving the relativistic Boltzmann equation. We use a relativistic, semi-classical partonic cascade including screened binary and inelastic, radiative 2 <-> 3 perturbative QCD scattering. We employ the Green-Kubo formula and, independently, evaluate the static electric current established by the influence of an external electric field, in order to extract the conductivity. Both numerical methods give the same result. By using only constant, isotropic cross sections, we are able to compare the numerical results and analytic formulas with excellent agreement. Using pQCD scattering with running coupling in the transport code allows us to contrast our results with recent lattice QCD data.
We investigate the evolution Mach cones in ultra-relativistic heavy-ion collisions within a microscopic transport model. Using smooth initial conditions and central collisions the jet-medium interaction is studied using highly-energetic jets and various values of the shear viscosity over entropy density ratio, η/s, of the matter. We observe the formation of Mach cones for small shear viscosity over entropy density ratio, η/s, while for larger values of η/s the characteristic structures smear out and eventually vanish. We extract the final azimuthal two-particle correlation from the final gluon distribution. A double-peak structure shows up if, in a single event, the jet propagates in the direction opposite to the radial flow. This indicates that the contribution from the head shock and from the diffusion wake is superimposed by the radial flow and the contribution of the Mach-cone wings can show up. Considering the superposition of many different jet paths in a central heavy-ion collision, a double-peak structure also appears. The double-peak structure then originates mostly from a superposition of deflected jet-induced Mach cones with the contribution originating from head shock and diffusion wake. A large value of the shear viscosity over entropy density ratio destroys the double-peak structure for any scenario.
We derive an analytic expression for the shear viscosity of an ultra-relativistic gas in presence of both elastic 2→2 and inelastic 2↔3 processes with isotropic differential cross sections. The derivation is based on the entropy principle and Grad's approximation for the off-equilibrium distribution function. The obtained formula relates the shear viscosity coefficient η to the total cross sections σ22 and σ23 of the elastic resp. inelastic processes. The values of shear viscosity extracted using the Green–Kubo formula from kinetic transport calculations are shown to be in excellent agreement with the analytic results which demonstrates the validity of the derived formula.
We discuss recent applications of the partonic perturbative QCD based cascade model BAMPS with focus on heavy-ion phenomenology in the hard and soft momentum range. First, the elliptic flow and suppression of charm and bottom quarks are studied at LHC energies. Thereafter, we compare in a detailed study the standard Gunion-Bertsch approximation of the matrix elements for inelastic processes to the exact results in leading order perturbative QCD. Since a disagreement is found, we propose an improved Gunion-Bertsch matrix element, which agrees with the exact result in all phase space regions.
The formation of Mach cones is studied in a full (3 + 1)-dimensional setup of ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions, considering a transverse and longitudinal expanding medium at Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collider energies. For smooth initial conditions and central collisions the jet-medium interaction is investigated using high-energy jets and various values of the ratio of shear viscosity over entropy density, eta/s. For small viscosities, the formation of Mach cones is proven, whereas for larger viscosities the characteristic structures smear out and vanish eventually. The formation of a double-peak structure both in a single-and in a multiple-jet event is discussed.
Electric conductivity is sensitive to effective cross sections among the particles of the partonic medium. We investigate the electric conductivity of a hot plasma of quarks and gluons, solving the relativistic Boltzmann equation. In order to extract this transport coefficient, we employ the Green- Kubo formalism and, independently, a method motivated by the classical definition of electric conductivity. To this end we evaluate the static electric diffusion current upon the influence of an electric field. Both methods give identical results. For the first time, we obtain numerically the Drude electric conductivity formula for an ultrarelativistic gas of quarks and gluons employing constant isotropic binary cross sections. Furthermore, we extract the electric conductivity for a system of massless quarks and gluons including screened binary and inelastic, radiative 2 <-> 3 perturbative QCD scattering. Comparing with recent lattice results, we find an agreement in the temperature dependence of the conductivity.
Israel-Stewart theory is a causal, stable formulation of relativistic dissipative fluid dynamics. This theory has been shown to give a decent description of the dynamical behavior of a relativistic fluid in cases where shear stress becomes important. In principle, it should also be applicable to situations where heat flow becomes important. However, it has been shown that there are cases where Israel-Stewart theory cannot reproduce phenomena associated with heat flow. In this paper, we derive a relativistic dissipative fluid-dynamical theory from kinetic theory which provides a good description of all dissipative phenomena, including heat flow. We explicitly demonstrate this by comparing this theory with numerical solutions of the relativistic Boltzmann equation.
Using a smooth initial condition of Glauber type in the kinetic transport algorithm BAMPS we investigate differences in behavior of a multi-component system and its one-component equivalent with the same η/s value. Flow harmonic coefficients v2 and v4 are shown to have very low sensitivity to the details of microscopic interactions in the system.
We discuss recent applications of the partonic perturbative QCD based cascade model BAMPS with focus on heavy-ion phenomeneology in hard and soft momentum range. First, the elliptic flow and suppression of charm and bottom quarks are studied at LHC energies. Thereafter, we compare in a detailed study the standard Gunion-Bertsch approximation of the matrix elements for inelastic processes to the exact results at leading order perturbative QCD. Since a disagreement is found, we propose an improved Gunion-Bertsch matrix element, which agrees with the exact result in all phase space regions. In addition to recent jet-quenching investigations we present results on the application of jet reconstruction algorithms in BAMPS. Finally, jet phenomena inducing collective effects such as Mach cones, are demonstrated in an expanding medium at relativistic heavy-ion collisions. We address the question, whether the signal of a Mach cones is the origin for a double peak structure in extracted two-particle correlations.
Using a partonic transport model we investigate the evolution of conical structures in ultrarelativistic matter. Using two different source terms and varying the transport properties of the matter we study the formation of Mach Cones. Furthermore, in an additional study we extract the two-particle correlations from the numerical calculations and compare them to an analytical approximation. The influence of the viscosity to the shape of Mach Cones and the corresponding two-particle correlations is studied by adjusting the cross section of the medium.
Motivated by the classical picture of heat flow we construct a stationary temperature gradient in a relativistic microscopic transport model. Employing the relativistic Navier-Stokes ansatz we extract the heat conductivity κ for a massless Boltzmann gas using only binary collisions with isotropic cross sections. We compare the numerical results to analytical expressions from different theories and discuss the final results. The directly extracted value for the heat conductivity can be referred to as a literature reference within the numerical uncertainties.
Second-order dissipative hydrodynamic equations for each component of a multi-component system are derived using the entropy principle. Comparison of the solutions with kinetic transport results demonstrates validity of the obtained equations. We demonstrate how the shear viscosity of the total system can be calculated in terms of the involved cross-sections and partial densities. The presence of the inter-species interactions leads to a characteristic time dependence of the shear viscosity of the mixture, which also means that the shear viscosity of a mixture cannot be calculated using the Green-Kubo formalism the way it has been done recently. This finding is of interest for understanding of the shear viscosity of a quark-gluon plasma extracted from comparisons of hydrodynamic simulations with experimental results from RHIC and LHC.
Starting from a classical picture of shear viscosity we construct a stationary velocity gradient in a microscopic parton cascade. Employing the Navier-Stokes ansatz we extract the shear viscosity coefficient η. For elastic isotropic scatterings we find an excellent agreement with the analytic values. This confirms the applicability of this method. Furthermore, for both elastic and inelastic scatterings with pQCD based cross sections we extract the shear viscosity coefficient η for a pure gluonic system and find a good agreement with already published calculations.
We discuss recent applications of the partonic pQCD based cascade model BAMPS with focus on heavy-ion phenomeneology in hard and soft momentum range. The nuclear modification factor as well as elliptic flow are calculated in BAMPS for RHIC end LHC energies. These observables are also discussed within the same framework for charm and bottom quarks. Contributing to the recent jet-quenching investigations we present first preliminary results on application of jet reconstruction algorithms in BAMPS. Finally, collective effects induced by jets are investigated: we demonstrate the development of Mach cones in ideal matter as well in the highly viscous regime.
Using a microscopic transport model we investigate the evolution of conical structures originating from the supersonic projectile moving through the hot matter of ultrarelativistic particles. Using different scenarios for the interaction between projectile and matter, and different transport properties of the matter, we study the formation and structure of Mach cones. Especially, a dependence of the Mach cone angle on the details and rate of the energy deposition from projectile to the matter is investigated. Furthermore, the two-particle correlations extracted from the numerical calculations are compared to an analytical approximation. We find that the propagation of a high energetic particle through the matter does not lead to the appearance of a double peak structure as observed in the ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collision experiments. The reason is the strongly forward-peaked energy and momentum deposition in the head shock region. In addition, by adjusting the cross section we investigate the influence of the viscosity to the structure of Mach cones. A clear and unavoidable smearing of the profile depending on a finite ratio of shear viscosity to entropy density is clearly visible.
In this paper, we investigate the recently developed lattice Boltzmann model for relativistic hydrodynamics. To this purpose, we perform simulations of shock waves in quark-gluon plasma in the low and high viscosities regime, using three different computational models, the relativistic lattice Boltzmann (RLB), the Boltzmann Approach Multi-Parton Scattering (BAMPS), and the viscous sharp and smooth transport algorithm (vSHASTA). From the results, we conclude that the RLB model departs from BAMPS in the case of high speeds and high temperature (viscosities), the departure being due to the fact that the RLB is based on a quadratic approximation of the Maxwell-J\"uttner distribution, which is only valid for sufficiently low temperature and velocity. Furthermore, we have investigated the influence of the lattice speed on the results, and shown that inclusion of quadratic terms in the equilibrium distribution improves the stability of the method within its domain of applicability. Finally, we assess the viability of the RLB model in the various parameter regimes relevant to ultrarelativistic fluid dynamics.
Quenching of gluonic jets and heavy quark production in Au+Au collisions at RHIC can be understood within the pQCD based 3+1 dimensional parton transport model BAMPS including pQCD bremsstrahlung $2 \leftrightarrow 3$ processes. Furthermore, the development of conical structures induced by gluonic jets is investigated in a static box for the regimes of small and large dissipation.
Employing a microscopic transport model we investigate the evolution of high energetic jets moving through a viscous medium. For the scenario of an unstoppable jet we observe a clearly strong collective behavior for a low dissipative system $\eta/s \approx 0.005$, leading to the observation of cone-like structures. Increasing the dissipation of the system to $\eta/s \approx 0.32$ the Mach Cone structure vanishes. Furthermore, we investigate jet-associated particle correlations. A double-peak structure, as observed in experimental data, is even for low-dissipative systems not supported, because of the large influence of the head shock.
The shear viscosity of a gluon gas is calculated using the Green-Kubo relation. Time correlations of the energy-momentum tensor in thermal equilibrium are extracted from microscopic simulations using a parton cascade solving various Boltzmann collision processes. We find that the pQCD based gluon bremsstrahlung described by Gunion-Bertsch processes significantly lowers the shear viscosity by a factor of 3-8 compared to elastic scatterings. The shear viscosity scales with the coupling as 1/(alpha_s^2\log(1/alpha_s)). For a constant coupling constant the shear viscosity to entropy density ratio has no dependence on temperature. Replacing the pQCD-based collision angle distribution of binary scatterings by an isotropic form decreases the shear viscosity by a factor of 3.