FR06 · A course with experiments
Heavy-ion matter and hydrodynamics
Two nuclei collide, and the matter between them expands. Follow one small piece: find its rest frame, calculate its directional pressures, then ask when its evolution becomes predictable. Finally, use particle correlations to see how a transport inference depends on what we assume about the beginning.
Begin with one moving patch →L1 → L2
Describe the expanding patch
Define a clock and a stress tensor. Derive dilution, compare collisionless and ideal limits, and add finite shear relaxation.
L3
Test prediction and shared motion
Separate hydrodynamic agreement from isotropy. Recalculate a limited published attractor equation, then connect shape with angular correlations.
L4
Read a posterior with its assumptions
Fit a fixed synthetic event sample. Change geometry, nonflow and model error while preserving the observations.
Read in order, pause for the experiments
- 01
L1
Find the rest frame of expanding matter
Define collision geometry, energy flow and directional pressure before describing a heavy-ion collision as a fluid.
- 02
L1
Follow the clock carried by the expanding matter
Derive Bjorken energy conservation from proper time, comoving volume and longitudinal pressure work.
- 03
L2
Compare ideal flow with particles that never collide
Derive conformal cooling and the finite-time free-streaming limit from one initial energy and pressure state.
- 04
L2
Let shear stress relax over a finite time
Build the conformal MIS equations, define their transport coefficients and identify when the closure leaves its useful domain.
- 05
L3
Ask when fluid evolution works before pressures agree
Separate a hydrodynamic residual, pressure isotropy and microscopic thermal equilibrium in an expanding system.
- 06
L3
Recalculate a limited MIS attractor benchmark
Transform the published MIS equation, compare independent numerical variables and identify the limits of an attractor reproduction.
- 07
L3
Connect an initial shape to a final angular pattern
Define eccentricity and flow harmonics, then study a declared linear-response model with viscous damping.
- 08
L3
Measure common flow through particle correlations
Derive distinct-particle pair correlations and four-particle cumulants, with explicit finite-sample and nonflow limits.
- 09
L4
Infer transport while changing the assumed initial state
Recalculate a frozen synthetic posterior and inspect how geometry, nonflow and model error move the viscosity constraint.
Four experiments along the way
The first two experiments solve a declared longitudinal model. The flow experiments use a separate limited response law and saved synthetic events. The chapters identify the published equations, numerical checks and source versions where each enters.
Prepare as the next question requires
Begin with energy, momentum and basic algebra. The course introduces the matrix, derivative, angular moment and probability tools before using them. Every chapter includes a worked example, a prediction task and explained exercises. More advanced field theory and statistics can be studied when the later methods need them.
For collision-event context, visit the particle collider. For familiar viscous-flow intuition, compare Couette and Poiseuille flow. These are supporting examples, with different models and physical scales.