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.
