Viscous potential flow analysis of peripheral heavy ion collisions

Understand

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.