Breakdown of hydrodynamics in a simple one-dimensional fluid.

We investigate the behavior of a one-dimensional diatomic fluid under a shock wave excitation. We find that the properties of the resulting shock wave are in striking contrast with those predicted by hydrodynamic and kinetic approaches; e.g., the hydrodynamic profiles relax algebraically toward their equilibrium values. Deviations from local thermodynamic equilibrium are persistent, decaying as a power law of the distance to the shock layer. Nonequipartition is observed infinitely far from the shock wave, and the velocity-distribution moments exhibit multiscaling. These results question the validity of simple hydrodynamic theories to understand collective behavior in 1D fluids.