Heavy Ion Collision evolution modeling with ECHO-QGP

TL;DR

This paper introduces ECHO-QGP, a robust numerical code for simulating the evolution of quark-gluon plasma in relativistic heavy ion collisions using relativistic hydrodynamics with dissipative effects, validated against known solutions.

Contribution

The paper presents a new 3+1D relativistic hydrodynamics code incorporating dissipative effects within Israel-Stewart theory, validated against analytical solutions and capable of realistic initial conditions.

Findings

Code accurately reproduces Gubser flow solutions.

Demonstrates stability and high accuracy in simulations.

Handles both ideal and viscous hydrodynamics effectively.

Abstract

We present a numerical code modeling the evolution of the medium formed in relativistic heavy ion collisions, ECHO-QGP. The code solves relativistic hydrodynamics in $(3+1)-$D, with dissipative terms included within the framework of Israel-Stewart theory; it can work both in Minkowskian and in Bjorken coordinates. Initial conditions are provided through an implementation of the Glauber model (both Optical and Monte Carlo), while freezeout and particle generation are based on the Cooper-Frye prescription. The code is validated against several test problems and shows remarkable stability and accuracy with the combination of a conservative (shock-capturing) approach and the high-order methods employed. In particular it beautifully agrees with the semi-analytic solution known as Gubser flow, both in the ideal and in the viscous Israel-Stewart case, up to very large times and without any ad hoc tuning of the algorithm.