AbstractTime evolution of hot and dense nuclear matter produced in central gold-gold collisions at energies between $$E_{lab} = 10$$
E
lab
=
10
and 160 AGeV is studied within two transport string models, UrQMD and QGSM. In contrast to the previous studies, here we investigate the macroscopic characteristics of the system before the state of chemical and thermal equilibrium is attained. For all energies in question two interesting observations are made for times starting already from $$t \ge 1$$
t
≥
1
fm/c. (1) The matter in the cell expands almost isentropically with nearly constant entropy per baryon. (2) Pressure in the cell appears to be very close to the pressure calculated for equilibrated hadron gas with the same values of energy density, baryon density and strangeness density. The pressure linearly depends on the energy density, $$P = a(\sqrt{s}) \varepsilon $$
P
=
a
(
s
)
ε
. Therefore, both observations endorses the formal application of relativistic hydrodynamics from the very early stages of heavy-ion collisions, despite of the fact that the matter in the fireball is out of equilibrium.
Excitation function of energy density and partonic degrees of freedom in relativistic heavy ion collisions
