arXiv subjects

Valentin I. Zakharov

Publications and source records attributed to Valentin I. Zakharov.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Weyl anomaly induced transport in hydrodynamics

We show that the Weyl (trace) anomaly gives rise to a new non-dissipative vector current in accelerated relativistic fluids. The anomaly uniquely fixes the second-order transport coefficient governing the coupling between the electromagnetic field and the fluid acceleration. We derive this result by extending hydrodynamic anomaly matching to include the trace anomaly, and independently reproduce it in boundary quantum field theory by treating the Rindler horizon of an accelerated observer as an effective boundary. From the boundary perspective, the electric- and magnetic-field sectors correspond to screening and vacuum magnetization effects near the boundary. In the local rest frame, the electric-field contribution induces an additional charge density, while the magnetic-field contribution generates a transverse current with a Nernst-like, more generally thermomagnetic Hall-like, tensor structure. Our results reveal a new class of anomaly-induced transport governed by the trace anomaly.

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arXiv2025

Viscosity, entanglement and acceleration

The Minkowski vacuum in an accelerated frame behaves like a fluid that has not only a finite temperature due to the Unruh effect, but also a finite shear viscosity. Moreover, the ratio of this viscosity to the entropy density exactly satisfies the Kovtun-Son-Starinets (KSS) bound, inspired by the string theory $ η/s=1/4π$. The origin of this viscosity is purely kinematical and is believed to be related to entanglement introduced by the Rindler horizon. We directly calculate the viscosity, entropy density, and their ratio for massless fields with spins 1/2 and 1. We show that locally the ratio of viscosity to entropy density can be below the limiting value $ 1/4π$ at distances of the order of the thickness of the membrane corresponding to the stretched horizon, and is described by the universal function for different spins. In particular, on the membrane surface $ η/s=1/8π$.

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arXiv2024

Novel phase transition at the Unruh temperature

We consider gas of massless fermions at certain temperature T and acceleration a. We find a second order phase transition at temperature T approaching the Unruh temperature TU. The implications for hadronization of the quark-gluon plasma produced in heavy-ion collisions (HIC) and for black-hole physics are discussed. In particular, this novel phase transition may be associated with thermalization in HIC, indicating its analogy with falling into a black hole.

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arXiv2022

Gravitational chiral anomaly and anomalous transport for fields with spin 3/2

In a fluid with vorticity and acceleration, an axial current arises in the third order of gradient expansion, called the kinematical vortical effect (KVE). While existing in the absence of gravitational fields, it is nevertheless associated with effects in curved space-time, namely with the gravitational chiral quantum anomaly. In this paper, the KVE transport coefficients were found using the Zubarev quantum-statistical density operator for the Rarita-Schwinger-Adler theory, which includes fields with spins 3/2 and 1/2. A prediction is made about the possible form of the transport coefficients for massless fields with arbitrary spin.

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arXiv2020

Unruh effect universality: emergent conical geometry from density operator

The Unruh effect has been investigated from the point of view of the quantum statistical Zubarev density operator in space with the Minkowski metric. Quantum corrections of the fourth order in acceleration to the energy-momentum tensor of real and complex scalar fields, and Dirac field are calculated. Both massless and massive fields are considered. The method for regularization of discovered infrared divergences for scalar fields is proposed. The calculated corrections make it possible to substantiate the Unruh effect from the point of view of the statistical approach, and to explicitly show its universality for various quantum field theories of massless and massive fields. The obtained results exactly coincide with the ones obtained earlier by calculation of the vacuum average of energy-momentum tensor in a space with a conical singularity. Thus, the duality of two methods for describing an accelerated medium is substantiated. One may also speak about the emergence of geometry with conical singularity from thermodynamics. In particular, the polynomiality of the energy-momentum tensor and the absence of higher-order corrections in acceleration can be explicitly demonstrated.

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arXiv2019

Calculation of acceleration effects using the Zubarev density operator

The relativistic form of the Zubarev density operator can be used to study quantum effects associated with acceleration of the medium. In particular, it was recently shown that the calculation of perturbative corrections in acceleration based on the Zubarev density operator makes it possible to show the existence of Unruh effect. In this paper, we present the details of the calculation of quantum correlators arising in the fourth order of the perturbation theory needed to demonstrate the Unruh effect. Expressions for the quantum corrections for massive fermions are also obtained.

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arXiv2019

Thermodynamics of accelerated fermion gas and instability at Unruh temperature

We demonstrate that the energy density of an accelerated fermion gas evaluated within quantum statistical approach in Minkowski space is related to a quantum correction to the vacuum expectation value of the energy-momentum tensor in a space with non-trivial metric and conical singularity. The key element of the derivation is the existence of a novel class of polynomial Sommerfeld integrals. The emerging duality of quantum statistical and geometrical approaches is explicitly checked at temperatures $T$ above or equal to the Unruh temperature $T_U$. Treating the acceleration as an imaginary part of the chemical potential allows for an analytical continuation to temperatures $T<T_U$ . There is a discontinuity at $T=T_U$ manifested in the second derivative of the energy density with respect to the temperature. Moreover, energy density becomes negative at $T<T_U$, apparently indicating some instability. Obtained results might have phenomenological implications for the physics of heavy-ion collisions.

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arXiv2019

Unruh effect for fermions from the Zubarev density operator

Using the Zubarev quantum-statistical density operator, we calculated the corrections to the energy-momentum tensor of a massless fermion gas associated with acceleration. It is shown that when fourth-order corrections are taken into account, the energy-momentum tensor in the laboratory frame is equal to zero at a proper temperature measured by a comoving observer equal to Unruh temperature. Consequently, the Minkowski vacuum is visible to the accelerated observer as a medium filled with a heat bath of particles with the Unruh temperature, which is the essence of the Unruh effect.

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arXiv2018

Edge State Quantization: Vector Fields in Rindler

We present a detailed discussion of the entanglement structure of vector fields through canonical quantization. We quantize Maxwell theory in Rindler space in Lorenz gauge, discuss the Hilbert space structure and analyze the Unruh effect. As a warm-up, in 1+1 dimensions, we compute the spectrum and prove that the theory is thermodynamically trivial. In d+1 dimensions, we identify the edge sector as eigenstates of horizon electric flux or equivalently as states representing large gauge transformations, localized on the horizon. The edge Hilbert space is generated by inserting a generic combination of Wilson line punctures in the edge vacuum, and the edge states are identified as Maxwell microstates of the black hole. This construction is repeated for Proca theory. Extensions to tensor field theories, and the link with Chern-Simons are discussed.

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arXiv2018

Effects of rotation and acceleration in the axial current: density operator vs Wigner function

The hydrodynamic coefficients in the axial current are calculated on the basis of the equilibrium quantum statistical density operator in the third order of perturbation theory in thermal vorticity tensor both for the case of massive and massless fermions. The coefficients obtained describe third-order corrections to the Chiral Vortical Effect and include the contribution from local acceleration. We show that the methods of the Wigner function and the statistical density operator lead to the same result for an axial current in describing effects associated only with vorticity when the local acceleration is zero, but differ in describing mixed effects for which both acceleration and vorticity are significant simultaneously.

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arXiv2017

Chiral vortical effect in pionic superfluid vs spin alignment of baryons

We consider chiral fluids, with (nearly) massless fermionic constituents, in the confining phase. Chiral vortical effect (CVE) is the flow of axial current along the axis of rotation of the fluid while the spin alignment is a non-vanishing correlation of polarizations of baryons with the axis of rotation. As the theoretical framework we use the model of pionic superfluidity induced by a non-vanishing isotopic chemical potential. We note that the average value of spin of virtual baryons reproduces the CVE. The role of defects, or vortices is crucial. The model does not apply directly to the quark-gluon plasma but might indicate existence of a mechanism to produce baryons with relatively large polarization in heavy-ion collisions.

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arXiv2016

String Theory in Polar Coordinates and the Vanishing of the One-Loop Rindler Entropy

We analyze the string spectrum of flat space in polar coordinates, following the small curvature limit of the $SL(2,\mathbb{R})/U(1)$ cigar CFT. We first analyze the partition function of the cigar itself, making some clarifications of the structure of the spectrum that have escaped attention up to this point. The superstring spectrum (type 0 and type II) is shown to exhibit an involution symmetry, that survives the small curvature limit. We classify all marginal states in polar coordinates for type II superstrings, with emphasis on their links and their superconformal structure. This classification is confirmed by an explicit large $τ_2$ analysis of the partition function. Next we compare three approaches towards the type II genus one entropy in Rindler space: using a sum-over-fields strategy, using a Melvin model approach and finally using a saddle point method on the cigar partition function. In each case we highlight possible obstructions and motivate that the correct procedures yield a vanishing result: $S=0$. We finally discuss how the QFT UV divergences of the fields in the spectrum disappear when computing the free energy and entropy using Euclidean techniques.

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arXiv2016

Revisiting noninteracting string partition functions in Rindler space

We revisit non-interacting string partition functions in Rindler space by summing over fields in the spectrum. In field theory, the total partition function splits in a natural way in a piece that does not contain surface terms and a piece consisting of solely the so-called edge states. For open strings, we illustrate that surface contributions to the higher spin fields correspond to open strings piercing the Rindler origin, unifying the higher spin surface contributions in string language. For closed strings, we demonstrate that the string partition function is not quite the same as the sum over the partition functions of the fields in the spectrum: an infinite overcounting is present for the latter. Next we study the partition functions obtained by excluding the surface terms. Using recent results of JHEP 1505 (2015) 106, this construction, first done by Emparan, can be put on much firmer ground. We generalize to type II and heterotic superstrings and demonstrate modular invariance. All of these exhibit an IR divergence that can be interpreted as a maximal acceleration close to the black hole horizon. Ultimately, since these partition functions are only part of the full story, divergences here should not be viewed as a failure of string theory: maximal acceleration is a feature of a faulty treatment of the higher spin fields in the string spectrum. We comment on the relevance of this to Solodukhin's recent proposal. A possible link with the firewall paradox is apparent.

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arXiv2016

Hagedorn temperature and physics of black holes

A mini-review devoted to some implications of the Hagedorn temperature for black hole physics. The existence of a limiting temperature is a generic feature of string models. The Hagedorn temperature was introduced first in the context of hadronic physics. Nowadays, the emphasis is shifted to fundamental strings which might be a necessary ingredient to obtain a consistent theory of black holes. The point is that, in field theory, the local temperature close to the horizon could be arbitrarily high, and this observation is difficult to reconcile with the finiteness of the entropy of black holes. After preliminary remarks, we review our recent attempt to evaluate the entropy of large black holes in terms of fundamental strings. We also speculate on implications for dynamics of large-N gauge theories arising within holographic models.

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arXiv2016

The long string at the stretched horizon and the entropy of large non-extremal black holes

We discuss how long strings can arise at the stretched horizon and how they can account for the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy. We use the thermal scalar field theory to derive the asymptotic density of states and corresponding stress tensor of a microcanonical long string gas in Rindler space. We show that the equality of the Hagedorn and Hawking temperatures gives rise to the tree-level entropy of large black holes in accordance with the Bekenstein-Hawking-Wald formula.

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arXiv2015

Perturbative String Thermodynamics near Black Hole Horizons

We provide further computations and ideas to the problem of near-Hagedorn string thermodynamics near (uncharged) black hole horizons, building upon our earlier work JHEP 1403 (2014) 086. The relevance of long strings to one-loop black hole thermodynamics is emphasized. We then provide an argument in favor of the absence of $α'$-corrections for the (quadratic) heterotic thermal scalar action in Rindler space. We also compute the large $k$ limit of the cigar orbifold partition functions (for both bosonic and type II superstrings) which allows a better comparison between the flat cones and the cigar cones. A discussion is made on the general McClain-Roth-O'Brien-Tan theorem and on the fact that different torus embeddings lead to different aspects of string thermodynamics. The black hole/string correspondence principle for the 2d black hole is discussed in terms of the thermal scalar. Finally, we present an argument to deal with arbitrary higher genus partition functions, suggesting the breakdown of string perturbation theory (in $g_s$) to compute thermodynamical quantities in black hole spacetimes.

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arXiv2015

On the Relevance of the Thermal Scalar

We discuss near-Hagedorn string thermodynamics in general spacetimes using the formalism of the thermal scalar. Building upon earlier work by Horowitz and Polchinski, we relate several properties of the thermal scalar field theory (i.e. the stress tensor and U(1) charge) to properties of the highly excited or near-Hagedorn string gas. We apply the formulas on several examples. We find the pressureless near-Hagedorn string gas in flat space and a non-vanishing (angular) string charge in $AdS_3$. We also find the thermal stress tensor for the highly excited string gas in Rindler space.

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arXiv2014

Near-Hagedorn Thermodynamics and Random Walks - Extensions and Examples

In this paper, we discuss several explicit examples of the results obtained in JHEP 1402 (2014) 127. We elaborate on the random walk picture in these spacetimes and how it is modified. Firstly we discuss the linear dilaton background. Then we analyze a previously studied toroidally compactified background where we determine the Hagedorn temperature and study the random walk picture. We continue with flat space orbifold models where we discuss boundary conditions for the thermal scalar. Finally, we study the general link between the quantum numbers in the fundamental domain and the strip and their role in thermodynamics.

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