Shear viscosity to entropy density ratio of a relativistic Hagedorn resonance gas

Abstract

The new state of matter produced at Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider reveals a strongly coupled quark-gluon plasma with an extremely small shear viscosity to entropy density ratio eta/s. We calculate the eta/s of an equilibrated hadron matter characterized by a relativistic hadron resonance gas with a Hagedorn mass spectrum that grows exponentially with the hadron mass. We find with increase in temperature of the system the eta/s value decreases due to rapid increase in the multiplicity of massive resonances. In the vicinity of the critical temperature for deconfinement transition, the minimum value of eta/s in the Hagedorn resonance gas is found to be consistent with the current estimates for a strongly coupled quark-gluon plasma.