Viscosity and the Soft Ridge at RHIC

TL;DR

This paper investigates whether the ridge-like correlation features observed in heavy-ion collisions at RHIC can be explained by the effects of transverse flow and viscous diffusion.

Contribution

It proposes a viscous diffusion model to explain the soft ridge phenomenon in untriggered correlations at RHIC.

Findings

Viscous diffusion can produce ridge-like correlations.

Transverse flow influences the correlation structure.

The model aligns with experimental observations.

Abstract

Correlation studies exhibit a ridge-like feature in rapidity and azimuthal angle, with and without a jet trigger. We ask whether the feature in untriggered correlations can be a consequence of transverse flow and viscous diffusion.