Hydrodynamical description of a hadron-quark first-order phase transition

Abstract

Solutions of hydrodynamical equations are presented for the equation of state of the Van der Waals type allowing for a first-order phase transition. As an example we consider the hadron-quark phase transition in heavy-ion collisions. It is shown that fluctuations dissolve and grow as if the fluid is effectively very viscous. In the vicinity of the critical point even in spinodal region seeds are growing slowly due to viscosity, surface tension and critical slowing down. These non-equilibrium effects prevent enhancement of fluctuations in the near-critical region, which in thermodynamical approach is frequently considered as a signal of the critical endpoint in heavy-ion collisions.