We revisit the definition of rotating thermal states for scalar and fermion fields in unbounded Minkowski space–time. For scalar fields such states are ill-defined everywhere, but for fermion fields an appropriate definition of the vacuum gives thermal states regular inside the speed-of-light surface. For a massless fermion field, we derive analytic expressions for the thermal expectation values of the fermion current and stress–energy tensor. These expressions may provide qualitative insights into the behaviour of thermal rotating states on more complex space–time geometries

We study a quantum fermion field inside a cylinder in Minkowski space-time. On the surface of the cylinder, the fermion field satisfies either spectral or MIT bag boundary conditions. We define rigidly-rotating quantum states in both cases, assuming that the radius of the cylinder is sufficiently small that the speed-of-light surface is excluded from the space-time. With this assumption, we calculate rigidly-rotating thermal expectation values of the fermion condensate, neutrino charge current and stress-energy tensor relative to the bounded vacuum state. These rigidly-rotating thermal expectation values are finite everywhere inside and on the surface of the cylinder, and their detailed properties depend on the choice of boundary conditions. We also compute the Casimir divergence of the expectation values of these quantities in the bounded vacuum state relative to the unbounded Minkowski vacuum. We find that the rate of divergence of the Casimir expectation values depends on the conditions imposed on the boundary.

We employ an effective kinetic description, based on the Boltzmann equation in the relaxation time approximation, to study the space-time dynamics and development of transverse flow of small and large collision systems. By combining analytical insights in the small opacity limit with numerical simulations at larger opacities, we are able to describe the development of transverse flow from very small to very large opacities. Surprisingly, we find that deviations between kinetic theory and hydrodynamics persist even in the limit of very large opacities, which can be attributed to the presence of the early preequilibrium phase.

We simulate the space-time dynamics of high-energy collisions based on a microscopic kinetic description in the conformal relaxation time approximation, in order to determine the range of applicability of an effective description in relativistic viscous hydrodynamics. We find that hydrodynamics provides a quantitatively accurate description of collective flow when the average inverse Reynolds number ${\mathrm{Re}}^{-1}$ is sufficiently small and the early preequilibrium stage is properly accounted for. We further discuss the implications of our findings for the (in)applicability of hydrodynamics in proton-proton, proton-nucleus, and light nucleus collisions.

We use the spherical coordinate system in the momentum space and an appropriate discretization procedure to derive a hierarchy of lattice Boltzmann (LB) models with variable temperature. The separation of the integrals in the momentum space into angular and radial parts allows us to compute the moments of the equilibrium distribution function by means of Gauss-Legendre and Gauss-Laguerre quadratures, as well as to find the elements of the discrete momentum set for each LB model in the hierarchy. The capability of the high-order models in this hierarchy to capture specific effects in microfluidics is investigated through a computer simulation of Couette flow by using the Shakhov collision term to get the right value of the Prandtl number.