Measuring Shear Viscosity Using Transverse Momentum Correlations in Relativistic Nuclear Collisions

Journal Article · Fri Oct 20 00:00:00 EDT 2006 · Physical Review Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVLETT.97.162302· OSTI ID:20861014

Gavin, Sean ^[1]; Abdel-Aziz, Mohamed ^[2]

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1. Department of Physics and Astronomy, Wayne State University, 666 West Hancock, Detroit, Michigan 48202 (United States)
2. Institut fuer Theoretische Physik, J. W. Goethe Universitaet, 60438 Frankfurt (Germany)

Elliptic flow measurements at the Brookhaven National Laboratory Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider suggest that quark-gluon fluid flows with very little viscosity compared to weak-coupling expectations, challenging theorists to explain why this fluid is so nearly ''perfect.'' It is therefore vital to find quantitative experimental information on the viscosity of the fluid. We propose that measurements of transverse momentum fluctuations can be used to determine the shear viscosity. We use current data to estimate the viscosity-to-entropy ratio in the range from 0.08 to 0.3 and discuss how future measurements can reduce this uncertainty.

• OSTI ID: 20861014
• Journal Information: Physical Review Letters, Vol. 97, Issue 16; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.97.162302; (c) 2006 The American Physical Society; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0031-9007
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
BNL
BROOKHAVEN RHIC
ENTROPY
FLUID FLOW
GLUONS
QUARK-GLUON INTERACTIONS
QUARKS
RELATIVISTIC RANGE
TRANSVERSE MOMENTUM
VISCOSITY