Searcharxiv⌕ Search

arXiv subjects

Gabriel S. Rocha

Publications and source records attributed to Gabriel S. Rocha.

14 recordsLinked to original sources
arXiv2026

Breakdown of Hydrodynamic Universality in Neutron Star Oscillations

Hydrodynamic universality refers to the property that different formulations of relativistic dissipative hydrodynamics yield identical predictions in the asymptotic long-wavelength regime. We show that neutron-star oscillations need not reach this regime. Because the finite stellar radius limits the accessible wavelengths and causality imposes a lower bound on microscopic relaxation times, the separation between microscopic and macroscopic scales can become insufficient for hydrodynamic universality to emerge. Comparing linear oscillations in relativistic Navier--Stokes and Israel--Stewart theories, we find that realistic bulk viscosities can produce sizeable modifications of the oscillation spectrum, even at the longest wavelengths. These results identify neutron-star oscillations as a direct probe of microscopic nonequilibrium dynamics beyond the leading hydrodynamic description.

gr-qc↗
arXiv2026

Radial Oscillations of Viscous Stars at Finite Temperature

We study the radial oscillation spectrum of relativistic stars within Israel-Stewart and Navier-Stokes theories, extending previous analyses to include heat diffusion and a thermodynamically consistent finite-temperature equation of state. The inclusion of heat flux gives rise to a distinct thermal sector in the mode spectrum, whose structure closely mirrors the dispersion relations of an infinite dissipative fluid. Within Israel-Stewart theory, the thermal modes transition from purely damped to propagating behavior above a critical overtone number, providing a finite-size realization of relativistic second sound in compact stars. Remarkably, the finite stellar geometry can push even the fundamental thermal mode into the propagating regime -- a feature with no continuum analogue. For the class of equations of state considered here, where finite-temperature corrections enter as controlled, Sommerfeld-type perturbations of a cold polytrope, the thermal sector couples only weakly to the ordinary fluid oscillation spectrum, with the coupling being of second order in a suitable temperature parameter. We further show that the discrete stellar spectrum is well captured by an analytic ansatz constructed from the flat-spacetime dispersion relations, with the star's finite radius discretizing the continuous mode structure. Our results complete the analysis of radial oscillations of viscous stars by incorporating the last remaining dissipative degree of freedom within the Israel-Stewart framework.

gr-qc↗
arXiv2026

Radial Oscillations of Viscous Neutron Stars: Zero Diffusion Case

The spectrum of radial oscillations of neutron stars is systematically studied within two frameworks of viscous relativistic hydrodynamics: the relativistic Navier-Stokes and Israel-Stewart theories. A correspondence is established between the discrete stellar eigenmodes and the continuous dispersion relation of perturbations around a homogeneous fluid, providing a basis for interpreting our numerical results. We analyze the Newtonian limit and assess the impact of relativistic corrections, such as the gravitational redshifting of microscopic relaxation timescales. We show that bulk viscosity can significantly affect the behavior of both hydrodynamic and nonhydrodynamic fundamental modes, and that, depending on the magnitude of the viscous effects, it is the nonhydrodynamic mode that becomes unstable beyond the turning point in a sequence of equilibrium configurations. These results provide a useful step toward systematic studies of neutron star quasinormal modes in the presence of viscosity.

gr-qc↗
arXiv2025

Relaxation Time Approximation for a multi-species relativistic gas

We generalize a recent prescription for the relaxation time approximation for the relativistic Boltzmann equation for systems with multiple particle species at finite temperature. This is performed by adding counter-terms to the traditional Anderson-Witting ansatz for each particle species. Our approach allows for the use of momentum-dependent relaxation times and the obedience of local conservation laws regardless of the definition of the local equilibrium state. As an application, we derive the first order Chapman-Enskog corrections to the equilibrium distribution and display results for the hadron-resonance gas. We also demonstrate that our collision term ansatz obeys the second law of thermodynamics.

nucl-th↗
arXiv2024

Branch-cut in the shear-stress response function of massless $λφ^4$ with Boltzmann statistics

Using an analytical result for the eigensystem of the linearized collision term for a classical system of massless scalar particles with quartic self-interactions, we show that the shear-stress linear response function possesses a branch-cut singularity that covers the whole positive imaginary semi-axis. This is demonstrated in two ways: (1) by truncating the exact, infinite linear system of linear equations for the rank-two tensor modes, which reveals the cut touching the origin; and (2) by employing the Trotterization techniques to invert the linear response problem. The former shows that the first pole tends towards the origin and the average separation between consecutive poles tends towards zero as power laws in the dimension of the basis. The latter allows one to obtain the response function in closed form in terms of Tricomi hypergeometrical functions, which possess a branch-cut on the above-mentioned semi-axis. This suggests that the presence of a cut along the imaginary frequency axis of the shear stress correlator, inferred from previous numerical analyses of weakly coupled scalar $λφ^4$ theories, does not arise due to quantum statistics but instead emerges from the fundamental properties of this system's interactions.

nucl-th↗
arXiv2024

Transport coefficients of transient hydrodynamics for the hadron-resonance gas and thermal-mass quasiparticle models

We calculate all transport coefficients of second order transient hydrodynamics in two effective kinetic theory models: a hadron-resonance gas and a quasiparticle model with thermal masses tuned to reproduce QCD thermodynamics. We compare the corresponding results with calculations for an ultrarelativistic single-component gas, that are widely employed in hydrodynamic simulations of heavy ion collisions. We find that both of these effective models display a qualitatively different normalized bulk viscosity, when compared to the calculation for the single-component gas. Indeed, $ζ/[τ_Π(\varepsilon_{0} + P_{0})] \simeq 16.91(1/3-c_{s}^{2})^{2}$, for the hadron-resonance gas model, and $ζ/[τ_Π(\varepsilon_{0} + P_{0})] \simeq 5 (1/3-c_{s}^{2})$ for the quasiparticle model. Differences are also observed for many second-order transport coefficients, specially those related to the bulk viscous pressure. The transport coefficients derived are shown to be consistent with fundamental linear stability and causality conditions.

nucl-th↗
arXiv2023

Theories of Relativistic Dissipative Fluid Dynamics

Relativistic dissipative fluid dynamics finds widespread applications in high-energy nuclear physics and astrophysics. However, formulating a causal and stable theory of relativistic dissipative fluid dynamics is far from trivial; efforts to accomplish this reach back more than 50 years. In this review, we give an overview of the field and attempt a comparative assessment of (at least most of) the theories for relativistic dissipative fluid dynamics proposed until today and used in applications.

nucl-th↗
arXiv2023

Hydrodynamic theories for a system of weakly self-interacting classical ultra-relativistic scalar particles: causality and stability

We investigate the causality and stability of three different relativistic dissipative fluid-dynamical formulations emerging from a system of classical, ultra-relativistic scalar particles self-interacting via a quartic potential. For this particular interaction, all transport coefficients of Navier-Stokes, Bemfica-Disconzi-Noronha-Kovtun and second-order transient theories can be computed in analytical form. We first show that Navier-Stokes theory is acausal and unstable regardless of the matching conditions. On the other hand, BDNK theory can be linearly causal and stable for a particular set of matching choices that does not contain the so-called exotic Eckart prescription. In particular, using the Liénard-Chipart criterion, we obtain a set of sufficient conditions that guarantee the stability of the theory. Last, second-order transient hydrodynamic theory in Landau matching is shown to be linearly causal and stable.

nucl-th↗
arXiv2023

Hydrodynamic theories for a system of weakly self-interacting classical ultra-relativistic scalar particles: microscopic derivations and attractors

We derive and investigate several hydrodynamic formalisms that emerge from a system of classical, ultra-relativistic scalar particles self-interacting via a quartic potential. The specific form of the total cross-section enables the analytical computation of all transport coefficients that appear in Navier-Stokes (NS), Bemfica-Disconzi-Noronha-Kovtun (BDNK), and second-order transient hydrodynamic theories. We solve all these formalisms in a Bjorken flow scenario and show that NS and BDNK theories display unphysical features when gradients become sufficiently large. This implies that these hydrodynamic approaches may not be suitable to describe the early stages of heavy ion collisions.

nucl-th↗
arXiv2022

Transport coefficients of quasi-particle models within a new relaxation time approximation of the Boltzmann equation

We investigate the transport properties of a kinetic theory model that is tuned to describe the thermodynamic properties of QCD at zero chemical potential using a new formulation of the relaxation time approximation. In contrast to previous approaches, the latter is constructed to preserve the fundamental properties of the collision term of the Boltzmann equation for any energy-dependence of the relaxation time. A novel choice of matching conditions is implemented to ensure that the background mean-field depends only on the temperature even when the system is out of equilibrium. We provide a consistent analysis of how the transport coefficients of relativistic Navier-Stokes theory vary with the energy dependence of the relaxation time. We also show that the entropy production of this theory is consistent with the second law of thermodynamics and verify that it is independent of the matching conditions employed. We used this fact to calculate the matching independent combination of transport coefficients.

nucl-th↗
arXiv2022

Perturbative approaches in relativistic kinetic theory and the emergence of first-order hydrodynamics

Hydrodynamics can be formulated in terms of a perturbative series in derivatives of the temperature, chemical potential, and flow velocity around an equilibrium state. Different formulations for this series have been proposed over the years, which consequently led to the development of various hydrodynamic theories. In this work, we discuss the relativistic generalizations of the perturbative expansions put forward by Chapman and Enskog, and Hilbert, using general matching conditions in kinetic theory. This allows us to describe, in a comprehensive way, how different out-of-equilibrium definitions for the hydrodynamic fields affect the development of the hydrodynamic perturbative series. We provide a perturbative method for systematically deriving the hydrodynamic formulation recently proposed by Bemfica, Disconzi, Noronha, and Kovtun (BDNK) from relativistic kinetic theory. The various transport coefficients that appear in BDNK (at first-order) are explicitly computed using a new formulation of the relaxation time approximation for the Boltzmann equation. Assuming Bjorken flow, we also determine the hydrodynamic attractors of BDNK theory and compare the overall hydrodynamic evolution obtained using this formulation with that generated by the Israel-Stewart equations of motion and also kinetic theory.

nucl-th↗
arXiv2021

Transient fluid dynamics with general matching conditions: a first study from the method of moments

Recent works have revealed that matching conditions play a major role on general consistency properties of relativistic fluid dynamics such as causality, stability and wellposedness of the equations of motion. In this paper we derive transient fluid dynamics from kinetic theory, using the method of moments as proposed by Israel and Stewart, without imposing an specific matching condition. We then investigate how the equations of motion and their corresponding transport coefficients are affected by the choice of matching condition.

nucl-th↗
arXiv2021

Novel Relaxation Time Approximation to the Relativistic Boltzmann Equation

We show that the widely used relaxation time approximation to the relativistic Boltzmann equation contains basic flaws, being incompatible with microscopic and macroscopic conservation laws. We propose a new approximation that fixes such fundamental issues and maintains the basic properties of the linearized Boltzmann collision operator. We show how this correction affects transport coefficients, such as the bulk viscosity and particle diffusion.

nucl-th↗