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Pavel Kovtun

Publications and source records attributed to Pavel Kovtun.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
arXiv2015

On thermal fluctuations and the generating functional in relativistic hydrodynamics

We discuss a real-time generating functional for correlation functions in dissipative relativistic hydrodynamics which takes into account thermal fluctuations of the hydrodynamic variables. Starting from the known form of these correlation functions in the linearized regime, we integrate to find a generating functional which we can interpret within the CTP formalism, provided the space-time and internal global symmetries are realized in a specific manner in the (r,a) sectors. We then verify that this symmetry realization, when implemented in an effective action for hydrodynamic fields in the (r,a) basis, leads to a consistent derivative expansion for the constitutive relations at the nonlinear level, modulo constraints associated with the existence of an equilibrium state.

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arXiv2013

Chiral conductivities and effective field theory

We construct the three-dimensional effective field theory which reproduces low-momentum static correlation functions in four-dimensional quantum field theories with U(1) axial anomalies and a dynamical vector gauge field, in thermal equilibrium. We compute radiative corrections to parity-violating chiral conductivities, to leading order in the effective theory. All of the anomaly-induced transport is susceptible to radiative corrections, except for certain two-point functions which are required by symmetry to vanish.

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arXiv2012

Lectures on hydrodynamic fluctuations in relativistic theories

These are pedagogical lecture notes on hydrodynamic fluctuations in normal relativistic fluids. The lectures discuss correlation functions of conserved densities in thermal equilibrium, interactions of the hydrodynamic modes, an effective action for viscous fluids, and the breakdown of the derivative expansion in hydrodynamics.

hep-th↗
arXiv2012

Towards hydrodynamics without an entropy current

We present a generating functional which describes the equilibrium thermodynamic response of a relativistic system to external sources. A variational principle gives rise to constraints on the response parameters of relativistic hydrodynamics without making use of an entropy current. Our method reproduces and extends results available in the literature. It also provides a technique for efficiently computing n-point zero-frequency hydrodynamic correlation functions without the need to solve the equations of hydrodynamics.

hep-th↗
arXiv2011

Parity-Violating Hydrodynamics in 2+1 Dimensions

We study relativistic hydrodynamics of normal fluids in two spatial dimensions. When the microscopic theory breaks parity, extra transport coefficients appear in the hydrodynamic regime, including the Hall viscosity, and the anomalous Hall conductivity. In this work we classify all the transport coefficients in first order hydrodynamics. We then use properties of response functions and the positivity of entropy production to restrict the possible coefficients in the constitutive relations. All the parity-breaking transport coefficients are dissipationless, and some of them are related to the thermodynamic response to an external magnetic field and to vorticity. In addition, we give a holographic example of a strongly interacting relativistic fluid where the parity-violating transport coefficients are computable.

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arXiv2011

The stickiness of sound: An absolute lower limit on viscosity and the breakdown of second order relativistic hydrodynamics

Hydrodynamics predicts long-lived sound and shear waves. Thermal fluctuations in these waves can lead to the diffusion of momentum density, contributing to the shear viscosity and other transport coefficients. Within viscous hydrodynamics in 3+1 dimensions, this leads to a positive contribution to the shear viscosity, which is finite but inversely proportional to the microscopic shear viscosity. Therefore the effective infrared viscosity is bounded from below. The contribution to the second-order transport coefficient $τ_π$ is divergent, which means that second-order relativistic viscous hydrodynamics is inconsistent below some frequency scale. We estimate the importance of each effect for the Quark-Gluon Plasma, finding them to be minor if $η/s = 0.16$ but important if $η/s = 0.08$.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2008

Black holes and non-relativistic quantum systems

We describe black holes in d+3 dimensions, whose thermodynamic properties correspond to those of a scale invariant non-relativistic d+1 dimensional quantum system with dynamical exponent z=2. The gravitational model involves a massive abelian vector field and a scalar field, in addition to the metric. The energy per particle in the dual theory is $|μ| d/(d+2)$, exactly as in a non-interacting Fermi gas, while the ratio of shear viscosity to entropy density is $\hbar/4π$.

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arXiv2008

Universal conductivity and central charges

We discuss a class of critical models in d>1+1 dimensions whose electrical conductivity and charge susceptibility are fixed by the central charge in a universal manner. We comment on possible bounds on conductivity, as suggested by holographic duality.

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arXiv2008

Black holes and universality classes of critical points

We argue that there exists an infinite class of conformal field theories in diverse dimensions, having a universal ratio of the central charge c to the normalized entropy density c'. The universality class includes all conformal theories which possess a classical gravity dual according to the AdS/CFT correspondence. From the practical point of view, the universality of c/c' provides an explicit test which can be applied to determine whether a given critical point may admit a dual description in terms of classical gravity.

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arXiv2007

Hall conductivity from dyonic black holes

A class of strongly interacting 2+1 dimensional conformal field theories in a transverse magnetic field can be studied using the AdS/CFT duality. We compute zero momentum hydrodynamic response functions of maximally supersymmetric 2+1 dimensional SU(N) Yang-Mills theory at the conformal fixed point, in the large N limit. With background magnetic field B and electric charge density rho, the Hall conductivity is found to be rho/B. The result, anticipated on kinematic grounds in field theory, is obtained from perturbations of a four dimensional AdS black hole with both electric and magnetic charges.

hep-th↗
arXiv2007

Quantum critical transport, duality, and M-theory

We consider charge transport properties of 2+1 dimensional conformal field theories at non-zero temperature. For theories with only Abelian U(1) charges, we describe the action of particle-vortex duality on the hydrodynamic-to-collisionless crossover function: this leads to powerful functional constraints for self-dual theories. For the n=8 supersymmetric, SU(N) Yang-Mills theory at the conformal fixed point, exact hydrodynamic-to-collisionless crossover functions of the SO(8) R-currents can be obtained in the large N limit by applying the AdS/CFT correspondence to M-theory. In the gravity theory, fluctuating currents are mapped to fluctuating gauge fields in the background of a black hole in 3+1 dimensional anti-de Sitter space. The electromagnetic self-duality of the 3+1 dimensional theory implies that the correlators of the R-currents obey a functional constraint similar to that found from particle-vortex duality in 2+1 dimensional Abelian theories. Thus the 2+1 dimensional, superconformal Yang Mills theory obeys a "holographic self duality" in the large N limit, and perhaps more generally.

hep-th↗
arXiv2007

Volume independence in large Nc QCD-like gauge theories

Volume independence in large $\Nc$ gauge theories may be viewed as a generalized orbifold equivalence. The reduction to zero volume (or Eguchi-Kawai reduction) is a special case of this equivalence. So is temperature independence in confining phases. In pure Yang-Mills theory, the failure of volume independence for sufficiently small volumes (at weak coupling) due to spontaneous breaking of center symmetry, together with its validity above a critical size, nicely illustrate the symmetry realization conditions which are both necessary and sufficient for large $\Nc$ orbifold equivalence. The existence of a minimal size below which volume independence fails also applies to Yang-Mills theory with antisymmetric representation fermions [QCD(AS)]. However, in Yang-Mills theory with adjoint representation fermions [QCD(Adj)], endowed with periodic boundary conditions, volume independence remains valid down to arbitrarily small size. In sufficiently large volumes, QCD(Adj) and QCD(AS) have a large $\Nc$ ``orientifold'' equivalence, provided charge conjugation symmetry is unbroken in the latter theory. Therefore, via a combined orbifold-orientifold mapping, a well-defined large $\Nc$ equivalence exists between QCD(AS) in large, or infinite, volume and QCD(Adj) in arbitrarily small volume. Since asymptotically free gauge theories, such as QCD(Adj), are much easier to study (analytically or numerically) in small volume, this equivalence should allow greater understanding of large $\Nc$ QCD in infinite volume.

hep-th↗
arXiv2006

Photon and dilepton production in supersymmetric Yang-Mills plasma

By weakly gauging one of the U(1) subgroups of the R-symmetry group, N=4 super-Yang-Mills theory can be coupled to electromagnetism, thus allowing a computation of photon production and related phenomena in a QCD-like non-Abelian plasma at both weak and strong coupling. We compute photon and dilepton emission rates from finite temperature N=4 supersymmetric Yang-Mills plasma both perturbatively at weak coupling to leading order, and non-perturbatively at strong coupling using the AdS/CFT duality conjecture. Comparison of the photo-emission spectra for N=4 plasma at weak coupling, N=4 plasma at strong coupling, and QCD at weak coupling reveals several systematic trends which we discuss. We also evaluate the electric conductivity of N=4 plasma in the strong coupling limit, and to leading-log order at weak coupling. Current-current spectral functions in the strongly coupled theory exhibit hydrodynamic peaks at small frequency, but otherwise show no structure which could be interpreted as well-defined thermal resonances in the high-temperature phase.

hep-th↗
arXiv2006

A schematic model of neutrinos

We show that the observed pattern for neutrino mixing arises naturally if neutrinos are composites of more elementary constituents carrying an SU(2) quantum number we call lepospin.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2006

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

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.

hep-th↗
arXiv2005

Can large Nc equivalence between supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory and its orbifold projections be valid?

Necessary and sufficient conditions for large Nc equivalence between parent and daughter theories, for a wide class of orbifold projections of U(Nc) gauge theories, are just the natural requirements that the discrete symmetry used to define the projection not be spontaneously broken in the parent theory, and the discrete symmetry permuting equivalent gauge group factors not be spontaneously broken in the daughter theory. In this paper, we discuss the application of this result to Z_k projections of N=1 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory in four dimensions, as well as various multi-flavor generalizations. Z_k projections with k > 2 yielding chiral gauge theories violate the symmetry realization conditions needed for large Nc equivalence, due to the spontaneous symmetry breaking of discrete chiral symmetry in the parent super-Yang-Mills theory. But for Z_2 projections, we show that previous assertions of large Nc inequivalence, in infinite volume, between the parent and daughter theories were based on incorrect mappings of vacuum energies, theta angles, or connected correlators between the two theories. With the correct identifications, there is no sign of any inconsistency. A subtle but essential feature of the connection between parent and daughter theories involves multi-valuedness in the mapping of theta parameters from parent to daughter.

hep-th↗
arXiv2004

Necessary and sufficient conditions for non-perturbative equivalences of large N orbifold gauge theories

Large N coherent state methods are used to study the relation between U(N) gauge theories containing adjoint representation matter fields and their orbifold projections. The classical dynamical systems which reproduce the large N limits of the quantum dynamics in parent and daughter orbifold theories are compared. We demonstrate that the large N dynamics of the parent theory, restricted to the subspace invariant under the orbifold projection symmetry, and the large N dynamics of the daughter theory, restricted to the untwisted sector invariant under "theory space'' permutations, coincide. This implies equality, in the large N limit, between appropriately identified connected correlation functions in parent and daughter theories, provided the orbifold projection symmetry is not spontaneously broken in the parent theory and the theory space permutation symmetry is not spontaneously broken in the daughter. The necessity of these symmetry realization conditions for the validity of the large N equivalence is unsurprising, but demonstrating the sufficiency of these conditions is new. This work extends an earlier proof of non-perturbative large N equivalence which was only valid in the phase of the (lattice regularized) theories continuously connected to large mass and strong coupling.

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