Stress tensor and bulk viscosity in relativistic nuclear collisions

We discuss the influence of different initial conditions for the stress tensor and the effect of bulk viscosity on the expansion and cooling of the fireball created in relativistic heavy ion collisions. In particular, we explore the evolution of longitudinal and transverse components of the pressure and the extent of dissipative entropy production in the one-dimensional, boost-invariant hydrodynamic model. We find that a bulk viscosity consistent with recent estimates from lattice QCD further slows the equilibration of the system; however, it does not significantly increase the entropy produced.