The smallest fluid on Earth

Does a Quark-Gluon Plasma Feature an Extended Hydrodynamic Regime?

We investigate the response of the near-equilibrium quark-gluon plasma (QGP) to perturbation at nonhydrodynamic gradients. We propose a conceivable scenario under which sound mode continues to dominate the medium response in this regime. Such a scenario has been observed experimentally for various liquids and liquid metals. We further show that this extended hydrodynamic regime (EHR) indeed exists for both the weakly coupled kinetic equation in the relaxation time approximation (RTA) and the strongly coupled N=4 supersymmetric Yang-Mills (SYM) theory. We construct a simple but nontrivial extension of Müller-Israel-Stewart (MIS) theory-namely MIS*-and demonstrate that it describes the EHR response for both the RTA and SYM theory. This indicates that MIS* equations can potentially be employed to search for QGP EHR via heavy-ion collisions.

Observation of hydrodynamization and local prethermalization in 1D Bose gases

Hydrodynamics accurately describe relativistic heavy-ion collision experiments well before local thermal equilibrium is established¹. This unexpectedly rapid onset of hydrodynamics-which takes place on the fastest available timescale-is called hydrodynamization^2-4. It occurs when an interacting quantum system is quenched with an energy density that is much greater than its ground-state energy density^5,6. During hydrodynamization, energy gets redistributed across very different energy scales. Hydrodynamization precedes local equilibration among momentum modes⁵, which is local prethermalization to a generalized Gibbs ensemble^7,8 in nearly integrable systems or local thermalization in non-integrable systems⁹. Although many theories of quantum dynamics postulate local prethermalization^10,11, the associated timescale has not been studied experimentally. Here we use an array of one-dimensional Bose gases to directly observe both hydrodynamization and local prethermalization. After we apply a Bragg scattering pulse, hydrodynamization is evident in the fast redistribution of energy among distant momentum modes, which occurs on timescales associated with the Bragg peak energies. Local prethermalization can be seen in the slower redistribution of occupation among nearby momentum modes. We find that the timescale for local prethermalization in our system is inversely proportional to the momenta involved. During hydrodynamization and local prethermalization, existing theories cannot quantitatively model our experiment. Exact theoretical calculations in the Tonks-Girardeau limit¹² show qualitatively similar features.

Collectivity in ultra-peripheral heavy-ion collisions

We present full (3+1 )D dynamical simulations to study collective behavior in ultra-peripheral nucleus-nucleus collisions (UPC) at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) with the 3DGlauber+MUSIC+UrQMD framework [1, 2]. By extrapolating from asymmetric p+Pb collisions, we simulate a quasi-real photon γ* interacting with the Pb nucleus in an ultra-peripheral collision at the LHC, assuming strong final-state effects. We study the elliptic flow hierarchy between p+Pb and γ*+Pb collisions, which is dominated by the difference in longitudinal flow decorrelations. Our theoretical framework provides a quantitative tool to study collectivity in small asymmetric collision systems at current and future collider experiments.

Collectivity in Ultraperipheral Pb+Pb Collisions at the Large Hadron Collider

We present the first full (3+1)D dynamical simulations of ultraperipheral Pb+Pb collisions at the Large Hadron Collider. Extrapolating from p+Pb collisions, we explore whether a quasireal photon γ^{*} interacting with the lead nucleus in an ultraperipheral collision can create a many-body system exhibiting fluid behavior. Assuming strong final-state interactions, we provide model results for charged hadron multiplicity, identified particle mean transverse momenta, and charged hadron anisotropic flow coefficients, and compare them with experimental data from the ALICE and ATLAS Collaborations. The elliptic flow hierarchy between p+Pb and γ^{*}+Pb collisions is dominated by the difference in longitudinal flow decorrelations and reproduces the experimental data well. We have demonstrated that our theoretical framework provides a quantitative tool to study particle production and collectivity for all system sizes, ranging from central heavy-ion collisions to small asymmetric collision systems at the Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collider and the Large Hadron Collider and even at the future Electron-Ion Collider.