The effect of shear and bulk viscosities on elliptic flow

TL;DR

This paper investigates how shear and bulk viscosities influence elliptic flow in heavy-ion collisions, emphasizing the importance of temperature-dependent transport coefficients near ideal fluid behavior.

Contribution

It introduces a realistic parameterization of shear and bulk viscous coefficients and their relaxation times, highlighting their impact on elliptic flow.

Findings

Viscous effects significantly modify elliptic flow patterns.

Temperature dependence of transport coefficients explains near-ideal fluid behavior.

Non-trivial viscosity behaviors are crucial for accurate modeling.

Abstract

In this work, we examine the effect of shear and bulk viscosities on elliptic flow by taking a realistic parameterization of the shear and bulk viscous coefficients, $\eta$ and $\zeta$, and their respective relaxation times, $\tau_{\pi}$ and $\tau_{\Pi}$. We argue that the behaviors close to ideal fluid observed at RHIC energies may be related to non-trivial temperature dependence of these transport coefficients.