Viscosity, wave damping and shock wave formation in cold hadronic matter

Abstract: We study linear and nonlinear wave propagation in a dense and cold hadron gas and also in a cold quark gluon plasma, taking viscosity into account and using the Navier-Stokes equation. The equation of state of the hadronic phase is derived from the nonlinear Walecka model in the mean field approximation. The quark gluon plasma phase is described by the MIT equation of state. We show that in a hadron gas viscosity strongly damps wave propagation and also hinders shock wave formation. This marked difference between the two phases may have phenomenological consequences and lead to new QGP signatures.