Relativistic Shock Waves in Viscous Gluon Matter

Abstract

We solve the relativistic Riemann problem in viscous gluon matter employing a microscopic parton cascade. We demonstrate the transition from ideal to viscous shock waves by varying the shear viscosity to entropy density ratio eta/s from zero to infinity. We show that an eta/s ratio larger than 0.2 prevents the development of well-defined shock waves on time scales typical for ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions. Comparisons with viscous hydrodynamic calculations confirm our findings.