https://doi.org/10.1140/epja/i2017-12432-1
Regular Article - Theoretical Physics
Hot origin of the Little Bang
1
Bogolyubov Institute for Theoretical Physics, Metrolohichna 14b, 03680, Kiev, Ukraine
2
Institut für Theoretische Physik, Universität Heidelberg, Philosophenweg 16, 69120, Heidelberg, Germany
3
ExtreMe Matter Institute EMMI, GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung, Planckstraße 1, 64291, Darmstadt, Germany
* e-mail: akkelin@bitp.kiev.ua
Received:
14
July
2017
Accepted:
16
November
2017
Published online:
4
December
2017
Ultrarelativistic heavy ion collisions produce a quark-gluon matter which lies in the future light cone originating from given points on the t = z = 0 plane of the Minkowski spacetime manifold. We show that in a weak coupling regime the Minkowski vacuum of massless fields presents itself in the “Little Bang” region as a thermal state of low 
particles, in close analogy to the Unruh effect for uniformly accelerated observers which are causally restricted to a Rindler wedge. It can shed some light on the mechanisms of early time thermalization in ultrarelativistic heavy ion collisions.
© SIF, Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature, 2017
