Dissipative dynamics of highly anisotropic systems

In this paper we present a method to improve the description of (0 + 1)-dimensional boost invariant dissipative dynamics in the presence of large momentum-space anisotropies We do this by reorganizing the canonical hydrodynamic expansion of the distribution function around a momentum-space anisotropic ansatz rather than an isotropic equilibrium one At leading order the result obtained is two coupled ordinary differential equations for the momentum space anisotropy and typical momentum of the degrees of freedom We show that this framework can reproduce both the ideal hydrodynamic and free streaming limits Additionally we demonstrate that when linearized the differential equations reduce to 2nd order Israel Stewart viscous hydrodynamics Finally we make quantitative comparisons of the evolution of the pressure anisotropy within our approach and 2nd order viscous hydrodynamics in both the strong and weak coupling limits (C) 2010 Elsevier B V All rights reserved