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Thermal spectral functions of strongly coupled N=4 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory

Pavel Kovtun·Andrei Starinets
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Abstract

We use the gauge-gravity duality conjecture to compute spectral functions of the stress-energy tensor in finite temperature N=4 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory in the limit of large Nc and large coupling. The spectral functions exhibit peaks characteristic of hydrodynamic modes at small frequency, and oscillations at intermediate frequency. The non-perturbative spectral functions differ qualitatively from those obtained in perturbation theory. The results may prove useful for lattice studies of transport processes in thermal gauge theories.

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Pavel Kovtun, Andrei Starinets. 2006-02-06. Thermal spectral functions of strongly coupled N=4 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.96.131601

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