Causal theories of dissipative relativistic fluids (Q2639751)

A very wide class of theories for dissipative relativistic fluids is analyzed. General techniques for constructing explicit theories are discussed. The conditions under which these theories have causal evolution equations are determined. The general properties (including stability) of the equilibrium solutions of these theories are evaluated. The requirement that the theory has the appropriate number and kind of equilibrium solutions is a strong constraint on the structure of the fluid theory. The properties of the shock-wave solutions of these theories are briefly considered. Most causal fluid theories have no solutions capable of describing strong shock waves.