Non-linear waves in a Quark Gluon Plasma

Abstract

Recent measurements at RHIC suggest that a nearly perfect fluid of quarks and gluons is produced in AA collisions. Moreover the passage of supersonic partons through this medium seems to produce waves. These waves might pile up and form Mach cones, which would manifest themselves in the so called away-side jets, forming a broad structure in the angular distribution of the particles recoiling against a trigger jet of moderate energy. In most of the theoretical descriptions of these phenomena, the hydrodynamic equations are linearized for simplicity. We propose an alternative explanation for the observed broadening of the away-side peak. It is based on hydrodynamics but it is a consequence of the non-linearities of the equations, which instead of simple waves may lead to localized waves or even solitons. We investigate in detail the consequences of including the non-linear terms. We use a simple equation of state for the QGP and expand the hydrodynamic equations around equilibrium configurations. The resulting differential equations describe the propagation of perturbations in the energy density. We solve them numerically and find that localized perturbations can propagate for long distances in the plasma. Under certain conditions our solutions mimick the propagation of Korteweg - de Vries solitons.

19 pages, 9 figures

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• Viscosity, wave damping and shock wave formation in cold hadronic matter
• Nonlinear waves in second order conformal hydrodynamics
• Propagation of non-linear waves in hot, ideal, and non-extensive quark-gluon plasma
• Stable solitary waves in Super dense plasmas at external magnetic fields
• Nonlinear waves in a hot, viscous and nonextensive quark gluon plasma
• On the radial expansion of tubular structures in a quark gluon plasma
• Evolution of non-stationary pulses in a cold magnetized quark-gluon plasma
• Waves in magnetized quark matter
• Acoustic horizons in nuclear fluids
• The fate of nonlinear perturbations near the QCD critical point
• Cosmology from Strong Interactions
• Analytical calculations of the Quantum Tsallis thermodynamic variables