Viscosity and thermal conductivity effects at first-order phase transitions in heavy-ion collisions

Abstract

Effects of viscosity and thermal conductivity on the dynamics of first-order phase transitions are studied. The nuclear gas-liquid and hadron-quark transitions in heavy-ion collisions are considered. We demonstrate that at non-zero thermal conductivity, $\kappa \ne 0$, onset of spinodal instabilities occurs on an isothermal spinodal line, whereas for $\kappa =0$ instabilities take place at lower temperatures, on an adiabatic spinodal.

Comments: invited talk at 6th International Workshop on Critical Point and Onset of Deconfinment (CPOD2010), Dubna, August 22-28, 2010