Development of relativistic shock waves in viscous gluon matter

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To investigate the formation and the propagation of relativistic shock waves in viscous gluon matter we solve the relativistic Riemann problem using a microscopic parton cascade. We demonstrate the transition from ideal to viscous shock waves by varying the shear viscosity to entropy density ratio η / s . We show that an η / s ratio larger than 0.2 prevents the development of well-defined shock waves on time scales typical for ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions. These findings are confirmed by viscous hydrodynamic calculations.