The realistic QCD equation of state in relativistic heavy-ion collisions and the early Universe

The realistic equation of state of strongly interacting matter, that has been successfully applied in the recent hydrodynamic studies of hadron production in relativistic heavy-ion collisions at RHIC, is used in the Friedmann equation to determine the precise time evolution of thermodynamic parameters in the early Universe. A comparison with the results obtained with simple ideal-gas equations of state is made. The realistic equation of state describes a crossover rather than the first-order phase transition between the quark–gluon plasma and hadronic matter. Our numerical calculations show that small inhomogeneities of strongly interacting matter in the early Universe are moderately damped during such crossover.