Bjorken flow revisited: analytic and numerical solutions in flat space-time coordinates

TL;DR

This paper presents new analytic and numerical solutions for the Bjorken flow in relativistic hydrodynamics, validating a lattice kinetic scheme with excellent agreement across different particle masses and space-time dimensions.

Contribution

It provides the first comprehensive analytic solutions for both massive and massless particles in (2+1) and (3+1) dimensions, and validates a lattice kinetic scheme for modeling relativistic flows.

Findings

Numerical results agree well with analytic solutions.

The scheme works for both massive and massless particles.

Solutions cover multiple space-time dimensions.

Abstract

In this work we provide analytic and numerical solutions for the Bjorken flow, a standard benchmark in relativistic hydrodynamics providing a simple model for the bulk evolution of matter created in collisions between heavy nuclei. We consider relativistic gases of both massive and massless particles, working in a ( 2 + 1 ) and ( 3 + 1 ) Minkowski space-time coordinate system. The numerical results from a recently developed lattice kinetic scheme show excellent agreement with the analytic solutions.