Thermalization of Strongly Coupled Field Theories

Journal Article · Fri May 13 00:00:00 EDT 2011 · Physical Review Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVLETT.106.191601· OSTI ID:21538322

Balasubramanian, V ^[1]; Bernamonti, A; Copland, N; Craps, B; Staessens, W ^[2]; Boer, J de ^[3]; Keski-Vakkuri, E ^[4]; Mueller, B ^[5]; Schaefer, A ^[6]; Shigemori, M ^[7]

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1. David Rittenhouse Laboratory, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104 (United States)
2. Theoretische Natuurkunde, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, and International Solvay Institutes, B-1050 Brussels (Belgium)
3. Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of Amsterdam, 1090 GL Amsterdam (Netherlands)
4. Helsinki Institute of Physics and Department of Physics, FIN-00014 University of Helsinki (Finland)
5. Department of Physics and CTMS, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina 27708 (United States)
6. Institut fuer Theoretische Physik, Universitaet Regensburg, D-93040 Regensburg (Germany)
7. Kobayashi-Maskawa Institute for the Origin of Particles and the Universe, Nagoya University, Nagoya 464-8602 (Japan)

Using the holographic mapping to a gravity dual, we calculate 2-point functions, Wilson loops, and entanglement entropy in strongly coupled field theories in d=2, 3, and 4 to probe the scale dependence of thermalization following a sudden injection of energy. For homogeneous initial conditions, the entanglement entropy thermalizes slowest and sets a time scale for equilibration that saturates a causality bound. The growth rate of entanglement entropy density is nearly volume-independent for small volumes but slows for larger volumes. In this setting, the UV thermalizes first.

• OSTI ID: 21538322
• Journal Information: Physical Review Letters, Vol. 106, Issue 19; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.106.191601; (c) 2011 American Institute of Physics; ISSN 0031-9007
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
DENSITY
ENTROPY
FIELD THEORIES
GRAVITATION
QUANTUM ENTANGLEMENT
THERMALIZATION
WILSON LOOP
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
SLOWING-DOWN
THERMODYNAMIC PROPERTIES