Relativistic hydrodynamics is a very successful
theoretical framework to describe the dynamics of matter
from scales as small as those of colliding elementary
particles, up to the largest scales in the universe.
This book provides an up-to-date, lively, and
approachable introduction to the mathematical formalism,
numerical techniques, and applications of relativistic
hydrodynamics. The topic is typically covered either by
very formal or by very phenomenological books, but is
instead presented here in a form that will be
appreciated both by students and researchers in the
field.
The topics covered in the book are the
results of work carried out over the last 40 years,
which can be found in rather technical research articles
with dissimilar notations and styles. The book is not
just a collection of scattered information, but a
well-organized description of relativistic
hydrodynamics, from the basic principles of statistical
kinetic theory, down to the technical aspects of
numerical methods devised for the solution of the
equations, and over to the applications in modern
physics and astrophysics. Numerous figures, diagrams,
and a variety of exercises aid the material in the book.
The most obvious applications of this work range from
astrophysics (black holes, neutron stars, gamma-ray
bursts, and active galaxies) to cosmology
(early-universe hydrodynamics and phase transitions) and
particle physics (heavy-ion collisions).
It is
often said that fluids are either seen as solutions of
partial differential equations or as "wet". Fluids in
this book are definitely wet, but the mathematical
beauty of differential equations is not washed
out.
|
|