Bjorken Flow Revisited: Analytic and Numerical Solutions in Flat Space-Time Coordinates

Abstract

In this work we provide analytic and numerical solutions for the Bjorken flow, a standard benchmark in relativistic hydrodynamics providing a simple model for the bulk evolution of matter created in collisions between heavy nuclei.
We consider relativistic gases of both massive and massless particles, working in a (2+1) and (3+1) Minkowski space-time coordinate system. The numerical results from a recently developed lattice kinetic scheme show excellent agreement with the analytic solutions.