Speaker
Description
We use the gauge/gravity duality to model the out-of-equilibrium first stage of
a heavy ion collision through the collision of gravitational shockwaves in
numerical relativity. This investigation of collisions of sheets of energy
density in a non-conformal theory with a gravity dual is the first non-conformal
holographic simulation of a heavy ion collision. I will discuss the new physics
that arises (as compared to the much simpler conformal case) such as a new
plasma relaxation channel, the equilibration of the conformal symmetry breaking
scalar condensate and the presence of a sizeable bulk viscosity. These
ingredients are crucial to make qualitative contact of the fast
hydrodynamization process of hot plasmas with real-world QCD deconfinement
matter above the critical point.
