Measuring Shear Viscosity Using Transverse Momentum Correlations in Relativistic Nuclear Collisions

Abstract

Elliptic flow measurements at RHIC suggest that quark gluon plasma flows with very little viscosity compared to weak coupling expectations, challenging theorists to explain why this fluid is so nearly ``perfect''. It is therefore vital to find quantitative experimental information on the viscosity of the plasma. We propose that measurements of transverse momentum fluctuations can be used to determine the shear viscosity. We use current data to estimate the viscosity-to-entropy ratio in the range from 0.08 to 0.3, and discuss how future measurements can reduce this uncertainty.

4 pages, 2 figures