Ever since fast hydrodynamization has been observed in heavy ion collisions the understanding of the very early non-equilibrium stage of such collisions has been a topic of intense research. We use the gauge/string duality to model the creation of a strongly coupled Quark-Gluon plasma in a non-conformal gauge theory. This study is the first non-conformal holographic simulation of a heavy ion collision. We extract new physics as compared to the conformal case such as a new relaxation channel and the presence of a sizeable bulk viscosity. If the bulk viscosity is large enough then the plasma becomes well described by hydrodynamics before the equilibrium equation of state becomes applicable. This time we refer to as the EoSization time. Furthermore I will show first unstable relaxation to hydrodynamics in the presence of a phase transition.

Institute of Cosmos Science, University of Barcelona