https://doi.org/10.1051/epjconf/202429605003
Establishing the Range of Applicability of Hydrodynamics in High-Energy Collisions
1 Fakultät für Physik, Universität Bielefeld, D-33615 Bielefeld, Germany
2 Department of Physics, West University of Timişoara, Bd. Vasile Pârvan 4, Timişoara 300223, Romania
3 Incubator of Scientific Excellence-Centre for Simulations of Superdense Fluids, University of Wrocław, pl. Maxa Borna 9, 50-204 Wrocław, Poland
* e-mail: cwerthmann@physik.uni-bielefeld.de
Published online: 26 June 2024
We simulate the space-time dynamics of high-energy collisions based on a microscopic kinetic description, in order to determine the range of applicability of an effective description in relativistic viscous hydrodynamics. We find that hydrodynamics provides a quantitatively accurate description of collective flow when the average inverse Reynolds number Re−1 is sufficiently small and the early pre-equilibrium stage is properly accounted for. By determining the breakdown of hydrodynamics as a function of system size and energy, we find that it is quantitatively accurate in central lead-lead collisions at LHC energies, but should not be used in typical proton-lead or proton-proton collisions, where the development of collective flow cannot accurately be described within hydrodynamics.
© The Authors, published by EDP Sciences, 2024
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
