First-order relativistic hydrodynamics is stable

Date

2019

Authors

Kovtun, Pavel

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Journal of High Energy Physics

Abstract

We study linearized stability in first-order relativistic viscous hydrodynamics in the most general frame. There is a region in the parameter space of transport coefficients where the perturbations of the equilibrium state are stable. This defines a class of stable frames, with the Landau-Lifshitz frame falling outside the class. The existence of stable frames suggests that viscous relativistic fluids may admit a sensible hydrodynamic description in terms of temperature, fluid velocity, and the chemical potential only, i.e. in terms of the same hydrodynamic variables as non-relativistic fluids. Alternatively, it suggests that the Israel-Stewart and similar constructions may be unnecessary for a sensible relativistic hydrodynamic theory.

Description

Keywords

Holography and quark-gluon plasmas, Thermal Field Theory

Citation

Kovtun, P. (2019) First-order relativistic hydrodynamics is stable. Journal of High Energy Physics, 2019(34). https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP10(2019)034