Effect of spectral modification of $\rho$ on shear viscosity of a pion gas

Abstract

We evaluate the shear viscosity of a pion gas in the relativistic kinetic theory approach. The in-medium propagator of the $\rho$ meson at finite temperature is used to evaluate the $\pi -\pi$ scattering amplitude in the medium. The real and imaginary parts of the self-energy calculated from one-loop diagrams are seen to have noticeable effects on the scattering cross-section. The consequences on temperature dependence of the shear viscosity evaluated in the Chapman-Enskog and relaxation time approximations are studied.