Dynamics of phase separation from holography
Abstract We use holography to develop a physical picture of the real-time evolution of the spinodal instability of a four-dimensional, strongly-coupled gauge theory with a first-order, thermal phase transition. We numerically solve Einstein’s equations to follow the evolution, in which we identify f...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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SpringerOpen
2020-01-01
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| Series: | Journal of High Energy Physics |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP01(2020)106 |
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| _version_ | 1832586148336107520 |
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| author | Maximilian Attems Yago Bea Jorge Casalderrey-Solana David Mateos Miguel Zilhão |
| author_facet | Maximilian Attems Yago Bea Jorge Casalderrey-Solana David Mateos Miguel Zilhão |
| author_sort | Maximilian Attems |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract We use holography to develop a physical picture of the real-time evolution of the spinodal instability of a four-dimensional, strongly-coupled gauge theory with a first-order, thermal phase transition. We numerically solve Einstein’s equations to follow the evolution, in which we identify four generic stages: a first, linear stage in which the instability grows exponentially; a second, non-linear stage in which peaks and/or phase domains are formed; a third stage in which these structures merge; and a fourth stage in which the system finally relaxes to a static, phase-separated configuration. On the gravity side the latter is described by a static, stable, inhomogeneous horizon. We conjecture and provide evidence that all static, non-phase separated configurations in large enough boxes are dynamically unstable. We show that all four stages are well described by the constitutive relations of second-order hydrodynamics that include all second-order gradients that are purely spatial in the local rest frame. In contrast, a Müller-Israel-Stewart-type formulation of hydrodynamics fails to provide a good description for two reasons. First, it misses some large, purely-spatial gradient corrections. Second, several second-order transport coefficients in this formulation, including the relaxation times τπ and τΠ, diverge at the points where the speed of sound vanishes. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-adbf2553d5dc44bead9915f3a36c2398 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1029-8479 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2020-01-01 |
| publisher | SpringerOpen |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of High Energy Physics |
| spelling | doaj-art-adbf2553d5dc44bead9915f3a36c23982025-01-26T12:11:06ZengSpringerOpenJournal of High Energy Physics1029-84792020-01-012020114910.1007/JHEP01(2020)106Dynamics of phase separation from holographyMaximilian Attems0Yago Bea1Jorge Casalderrey-Solana2David Mateos3Miguel Zilhão4Instituto Galego de Física de Altas Enerxías (IGFAE), Universidade de Santiago de CompostelaDepartament de Física Quàntica i Astrofísica & Institut de Ciències del Cosmos (ICC), Universitat de BarcelonaDepartament de Física Quàntica i Astrofísica & Institut de Ciències del Cosmos (ICC), Universitat de BarcelonaDepartament de Física Quàntica i Astrofísica & Institut de Ciències del Cosmos (ICC), Universitat de BarcelonaCENTRA, Departamento de Física, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de LisboaAbstract We use holography to develop a physical picture of the real-time evolution of the spinodal instability of a four-dimensional, strongly-coupled gauge theory with a first-order, thermal phase transition. We numerically solve Einstein’s equations to follow the evolution, in which we identify four generic stages: a first, linear stage in which the instability grows exponentially; a second, non-linear stage in which peaks and/or phase domains are formed; a third stage in which these structures merge; and a fourth stage in which the system finally relaxes to a static, phase-separated configuration. On the gravity side the latter is described by a static, stable, inhomogeneous horizon. We conjecture and provide evidence that all static, non-phase separated configurations in large enough boxes are dynamically unstable. We show that all four stages are well described by the constitutive relations of second-order hydrodynamics that include all second-order gradients that are purely spatial in the local rest frame. In contrast, a Müller-Israel-Stewart-type formulation of hydrodynamics fails to provide a good description for two reasons. First, it misses some large, purely-spatial gradient corrections. Second, several second-order transport coefficients in this formulation, including the relaxation times τπ and τΠ, diverge at the points where the speed of sound vanishes.https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP01(2020)106Gauge-gravity correspondenceHolography and quark-gluon plasmasAdS- CFT Correspondence |
| spellingShingle | Maximilian Attems Yago Bea Jorge Casalderrey-Solana David Mateos Miguel Zilhão Dynamics of phase separation from holography Journal of High Energy Physics Gauge-gravity correspondence Holography and quark-gluon plasmas AdS- CFT Correspondence |
| title | Dynamics of phase separation from holography |
| title_full | Dynamics of phase separation from holography |
| title_fullStr | Dynamics of phase separation from holography |
| title_full_unstemmed | Dynamics of phase separation from holography |
| title_short | Dynamics of phase separation from holography |
| title_sort | dynamics of phase separation from holography |
| topic | Gauge-gravity correspondence Holography and quark-gluon plasmas AdS- CFT Correspondence |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP01(2020)106 |
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