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Center for Nonlinear Studies |
There are good fluids and not so good fluids, as anyone trying to empty an old jar of honey will attest. Good fluids are characterized by having a low viscosity coefficient. Experimentally one finds that viscosity can reach arbitrarily high values for different fluids. However, the converse is not true: it is hard to find fluids with a viscosity coefficient lower than that of water. Until the end of last century, one of the record holders for low viscosity values was fluid helium, but with the advent of heavy-ion colliders and ultracold atomic gas experiments this has changed. I will lead you on a search for the "perfect fluid", using results from fields as different as relativistic fluid dynamics, string theory, high energy nuclear physics and atomic physics along the way.
Host: Ivan Vitev, T-2: NUC & PARTICLE PHYS, ASTROPHYS & COSMOLOGY