Viscous potential flow analysis of peripheral heavy ion collisions

TL;DR

This paper investigates the development of Kelvin-Helmholtz Instability in quark-gluon plasma during peripheral heavy-ion collisions using a viscous potential flow model, analyzing how viscosity, surface tension, and layer thickness influence instability growth.

Contribution

It introduces a classical potential flow approach to study KHI onset in QGP, incorporating phenomenological parameters like viscosity and surface tension.

Findings

Growth rate depends on viscosity, surface tension, and flow layer thickness.

Potential flow approximation effectively models KHI in QGP.

Results provide insights into instability conditions in heavy-ion collisions.

Abstract

The conditions for the development of a Kelvin-Helmholtz Instability (KHI) for the Quark-gluon Plasma (QGP) flow in a peripheral heavy-ion collision is investigated. The projectile and target side particles are separated by an energetically motivated hypothetical surface, characterized with a phenomenological surface tension. In such a view, a classical potential flow approximation is considered and the onset of the KHI is studied. The growth rate of the instability is computed as function of phenomenological parameters characteristic for the QGP fluid: viscosity, surface tension and flow layer thickness.