Maximum entropy kinetic matching conditions for heavy-ion collisions

Abstract

Coupling hadronic kinetic theory models to fluid dynamics in phenomenological studies of heavy ion collisions requires a prescription for ``particlization''. Existing particlization models are based on implicit or explicit assumptions about the microscopic degrees of freedom that go beyond the information provided by the preceding fluid dynamical history. We propose an alternative prescription which uses only macroscopic information provided by the hydrodynamic output. This method follows directly from the connections between information theory and statistical mechanics.