Shock wave collisions in AdS5: approximate numerical solutions

TL;DR

This paper numerically investigates shock wave collisions in AdS5 to model early-time dynamics of heavy-ion collisions, revealing how energy density evolves and aligns with hydrodynamics at late times, with initial conditions linked to black hole horizon area.

Contribution

It introduces a numerical approach to simulate shock wave collisions in AdS5, connecting initial black hole horizon area to late-time hydrodynamic behavior in heavy-ion collision models.

Findings

Energy density initially rises then decreases, matching hydrodynamics at late times.

Late-time behavior is governed by initial black hole horizon area.

Provides a toy model for early-time evolution in heavy-ion collisions.

Abstract

We numerically study the evolution of a boost-invariant N=4 SYM medium using AdS/CFT. We consider a toy model for the collision of gravitational shock waves, finding that the energy density first increases, reaches a maximum and then starts to decrease, matching hydrodynamics for late times. For the initial conditions we consider, the hydrodynamic scale governing the late time behaviour is to very good approximation determined by the area of the black hole horizon at initial times. Our results provide a toy model for the early time evolution of the bulk system in heavy-ion collisions at RHIC and the LHC.