Kelvin-Helmholz instability in high energy heavy ion collisions

TL;DR

This paper investigates the development of Kelvin-Helmholtz instability in high energy heavy ion collisions using a 3+1D fluid dynamical model, revealing its impact on flow patterns and potential for studying quark-gluon plasma viscosity.

Contribution

It introduces the observation of Kelvin-Helmholtz instability in high energy collisions and discusses its implications for understanding quark-gluon plasma properties.

Findings

Kelvin-Helmholtz instability develops in peripheral collisions.

Flow patterns are significantly altered by the instability.

The effect can serve as a precision tool for studying low viscosity of Quark-gluon Plasma.

Abstract

The dynamical development of collective flow is studied in a (3+1)D fluid dynamical model, with globally symmetric, peripheral initial conditions, which take into account the shear flow caused by the forward motion on the projectile side and the backward motion on the target side. While at $\sqrt{s_{NN}} = 2.76A$\,TeV semi-peripheral Pb+Pb collisions the earlier predicted rotation effect is visible, at more peripheral collisions, with high resolution and low numerical viscosity the initial development of a Kelvin-Helmholtz instability is observed, which alters the flow pattern considerably. This effect provides a precision tool for studying the low viscosity of Quark-gluon Plasma.