Viscous coefficients and thermal conductivity of a $$\pi K N$$ gas mixture in the medium

Abstract

The temperature and density dependence of the relaxation times, thermal conductivity, shear viscosity and bulk viscosity for a hot and dense gas consisting of pions, kaons and nucleons have been evaluated in the kinetic theory approach. The in-medium cross-sections for $\pi\pi$, $\pi K$ and $\pi N$ scatterings were obtained by using complete propagators for the exchanged $\rho$, $\sigma$, $K^*$ and $\Delta$ excitations derived using thermal field theoretic techniques. Notable deviations can be observed in the temperature dependence of $\eta$, $\zeta$ and $\lambda$ when compared with corresponding calculations using vacuum cross-sections usually employed in the literature. The value of the specific shear viscosity $\eta/s$ is found to be in agreement with available estimates.