Unconventional relaxation of hydrodynamic modes in anharmonic chains under strong pressure fluctuations

We develop an effective numerical scheme to capture hydrodynamic modes in general classical anharmonic chains. This scheme is based on the hydrodynamic theory suggested by Ernst-Hauge-van Leeuwen, which takes full role of pressure fluctuations into account. With this scheme we show that the traditional pictures given by the current nonlinear fluctuating hydrodynamic theory are valid only when the system's pressure is zero and the pressure fluctuations are weak. For nonvanishing pressure, the hydrodynamic modes can, however, respond to small and large pressure fluctuations and relax in some distinct manners. Our results shed new light on understanding thermal transport from the perspective of hydrodynamic theory.

A holographic superfluid symphony

We study the hydrodynamic excitations of backreacted holographic superfluids by computing the full set of quasinormal modes (QNMs) at finite momentum and matching them to the existing hydrodynamic theory of superfluids. Additionally, we analyze the behavior of the low-energy excitations in real frequency and complex momentum, going beyond the standard QNM picture. Finally, we carry out a novel type of study of the model by computing the support of the hydrodynamic modes across the phase diagram. We achieve this by determining the support of the corresponding QNMs on the different operators in the dual theory, both in complex frequency and complex momentum space. From the support, we are able to reconstruct the hydrodynamic dispersion relations using the hydrodynamic constitutive relations. Our analysis rules out a role-reversal phenomenon between first and second sound in this model, contrary to results obtained in a weakly coupled field theory framework.

Relativistic spin hydrodynamics with torsion and linear response theory for spin relaxation

Using the second law of local thermodynamics and the first-order Palatini formalism, we formulate relativistic spin hydrodynamics for quantum field theories with Dirac fermions, such as QED and QCD, in a torsionful curved background. We work in a regime where spin density, which is assumed to relax much slower than other non-hydrodynamic modes, is treated as an independent degree of freedom in an extended hydrodynamic description. Spin hydrodynamics in our approach contains only three non-hydrodynamic modes corresponding to a spin vector, whose relaxation time is controlled by a new transport coefficient: the rotational viscosity. We study linear response theory and observe an interesting mode mixing phenomenon between the transverse shear and the spin density modes. We propose several field-theoretical ways to compute the spin relaxation time and the rotational viscosity, via the Green-Kubo formula based on retarded correlation functions.

Convergence of hydrodynamic modes: insights from kinetic theory and holography

We study the mechanisms setting the radius of convergence of hydrodynamic dispersion relations in kinetic theory in the relaxation time approximation. This introduces a quali\-tatively new feature with respect to holography: a nonhydrodynamic sector represented by a branch cut in the retarded Green's function. In contrast with existing holographic examples, we find that the radius of convergence in the shear channel is set by a collision of the hydrodynamic pole with a branch point. In the sound channel it is set by a pole-pole collision on a non-principal sheet of the Green's function. More generally, we examine the consequences of the Implicit Function Theorem in hydrodynamics and give a prescription to determine a set of points that necessarily includes all complex singularities of the dispersion relation. This may be used as a practical tool to assist in determining the radius of convergence of hydrodynamic dispersion relations.

Critical behaviour of hydrodynamic series

We investigate the time-dependent perturbations of strongly coupled $$ \mathcal{N} $$ N = 4 SYM theory at finite temperature and finite chemical potential with a second order phase transition. This theory is modelled by a top-down Einstein-Maxwell-dilaton description which is a consistent truncation of the dimensional reduction of type IIB string theory on AdS5×S5. We focus on spin-1 and spin-2 sectors of perturbations and compute the linearized hydrodynamic transport coefficients up to the third order in gradient expansion. We also determine the radius of convergence of the hydrodynamic mode in spin-1 sector and the lowest non-hydrodynamic modes in spin-2 sector. Analytically, we find that all the hydrodynamic quantities have the same critical exponent near the critical point θ = $$ \frac{1}{2} $$ 1 2 . Moreover, we propose a relation between symmetry enhancement of the underlying theory and vanishing of the only third order hydrodynamic transport coefficient θ1, which appears in the shear dispersion relation of a conformal theory on a flat background.

Incoherent hydrodynamics of density waves in magnetic fields

We use holography to derive effective theories of fluctuations in spontaneously broken phases of systems with finite temperature, chemical potential, magnetic field and momentum relaxation in which the order parameters break translations. We analytically construct the hydrodynamic modes corresponding to the coupled thermoelectric and density wave fluctuations and all of them turn out to be purely diffusive for our system. Upon introducing pinning for the density waves, some of these modes acquire not only a gap, but also a finite resonance due to the magnetic field. Finally, we study the optical properties and perform numerical checks of our analytical results. A crucial byproduct of our analysis is the identification of the correct current which describes the transport of heat in our system.

Transseries for causal diffusive systems

The large proper-time behaviour of expanding boost-invariant fluids has provided many crucial insights into quark-gluon plasma dynamics. Here we formulate and explore the late-time behaviour of nonequilibrium dynamics at the level of linearized perturbations of equilibrium, but without any special symmetry assumptions. We introduce a useful quantitative approximation scheme in which hydrodynamic modes appear as perturbative contributions while transients are nonperturbative. In this way, solutions are naturally organized into transseries as they are in the case of boost-invariant flows. We focus our attention on the ubiquitous telegrapher’s equation, the simplest example of a causal theory with a hydrodynamic sector. In position space we uncover novel transient contributions as well as Stokes phenomena which change the structure of the transseries based on the spacetime region or the choice of initial data.

Near-extremal fluid mechanics

We analyse near-extremal black brane configurations in asymptotically AdS4 spacetime with the temperature T, chemical potential μ, and three-velocity uν, varying slowly. We consider a low-temperature limit where the rate of variation is much slower than μ, but much bigger than T. This limit is different from the one considered for conventional fluid-mechanics in which the rate of variation is much smaller than both T, μ. We find that in our limit, as well, the Einstein-Maxwell equations can be solved in a systematic perturbative expansion. At first order, in the rate of variation, the resulting constitutive relations for the stress tensor and charge current are local in the boundary theory and can be easily calculated. At higher orders, we show that these relations become non-local in time but the perturbative expansion is still valid. We find that there are four linearised modes in this limit; these are similar to the hydrodynamic modes found in conventional fluid mechanics with the same dispersion relations. We also study some linearised time independent perturbations exhibiting attractor behaviour at the horizon — these arise in the presence of external driving forces in the boundary theory.