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Title: Thermalization, viscosity and the averaged null energy condition

Abstract

We explore the implications of the averaged null energy condition for thermal states of relativistic quantum field theories. A key property of such thermal states is the thermalization length. This lengthscale generalizes the notion of a mean free path beyond weak coupling, and allows finite size regions to independently thermalize. Using the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis, we show that thermal fluctuations in finite size 'fireballs' can produce states that violate the averaged null energy condition if the thermalization length is too short or if the shear viscosity is too large. These bounds become very weak with a large number N of degrees of freedom but can constrain real-world systems, such as the quark-gluon plasma.

Authors:
 [1];  [2];  [1];  [1]
  1. Stanford Univ., CA (United States). Department of Physics
  2. Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY (United States). Department of Physics
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY (United States); Stanford Univ., CA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC)
OSTI Identifier:
1483478
Grant/Contract Number:  
SC0014123; SC0018134
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Journal of High Energy Physics (Online)
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Name: Journal of High Energy Physics (Online); Journal Volume: 2018; Journal Issue: 10; Journal ID: ISSN 1029-8479
Publisher:
Springer Berlin
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS; Quark-Gluon Plasma; Effective Field Theories

Citation Formats

Delacrétaz, Luca V., Hartman, Thomas, Hartnoll, Sean A., and Lewkowycz, Aitor. Thermalization, viscosity and the averaged null energy condition. United States: N. p., 2018. Web. doi:10.1007/JHEP10(2018)028.
Delacrétaz, Luca V., Hartman, Thomas, Hartnoll, Sean A., & Lewkowycz, Aitor. Thermalization, viscosity and the averaged null energy condition. United States. https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP10(2018)028
Delacrétaz, Luca V., Hartman, Thomas, Hartnoll, Sean A., and Lewkowycz, Aitor. Thu . "Thermalization, viscosity and the averaged null energy condition". United States. https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP10(2018)028. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1483478.
@article{osti_1483478,
title = {Thermalization, viscosity and the averaged null energy condition},
author = {Delacrétaz, Luca V. and Hartman, Thomas and Hartnoll, Sean A. and Lewkowycz, Aitor},
abstractNote = {We explore the implications of the averaged null energy condition for thermal states of relativistic quantum field theories. A key property of such thermal states is the thermalization length. This lengthscale generalizes the notion of a mean free path beyond weak coupling, and allows finite size regions to independently thermalize. Using the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis, we show that thermal fluctuations in finite size 'fireballs' can produce states that violate the averaged null energy condition if the thermalization length is too short or if the shear viscosity is too large. These bounds become very weak with a large number N of degrees of freedom but can constrain real-world systems, such as the quark-gluon plasma.},
doi = {10.1007/JHEP10(2018)028},
journal = {Journal of High Energy Physics (Online)},
number = 10,
volume = 2018,
place = {United States},
year = {Thu Oct 04 00:00:00 EDT 2018},
month = {Thu Oct 04 00:00:00 EDT 2018}
}

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Free Publicly Available Full Text
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Cited by: 14 works
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Works referencing / citing this record:

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Strongly coupled electron fluids in the Poiseuille regime
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