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Title: Nonlinear dynamics from the relativistic Boltzmann equation in the Friedmann-Lemaître-Robertson-Walker spacetime

Journal Article · · Physical Review D
 [1];  [2]; ORCiD logo [1];  [1];  [3]
  1. The Ohio State Univ., Columbus, OH (United States)
  2. Fluminense Federal Univ., Niterói, RJ (Brazil); Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
  3. Univ. of São Paulo (Brazil)

The dissipative dynamics of an expanding massless gas with constant cross section in a spatially flat Friedmann-Lemaître-Robertson-Walker (FLRW) universe is researched. The mathematical problem of solving the full nonlinear relativistic Boltzmann equation is recast into an infinite set of nonlinear ordinary differential equations for the moments of the one-particle distribution function. Momentum-space resolution is determined by the number of nonhydrodynamic modes included in the moment hierarchy, i.e., by the truncation order. We show that in the FLRW spacetime the nonhydrodynamic modes decouple completely from the hydrodynamic degrees of freedom. This results in the system flowing as an ideal fluid while at the same time producing entropy. The solutions to the nonlinear Boltzmann equation exhibit transient tails of the distribution function with nontrivial momentum dependence. The evolution of this tail is not correctly captured by the relaxation time approximation nor by the linearized Boltzmann equation. Yet, the latter probes additional high-momentum details unresolved by the relaxation time approximation. While the expansion of the FLRW spacetime is slow enough for the system to move towards (and not away from) local thermal equilibrium, it is not sufficiently slow for the system to actually ever reach complete local equilibrium. Equilibration is fastest in the relaxation time approximation, followed, in turn, by kinetic evolution with a linearized and a fully nonlinear Boltzmann collision term.

Research Organization:
The Ohio State Univ., Columbus, OH (United States); Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Nuclear Physics (NP)
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0004286; SC0012704
OSTI ID:
1604346
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1334854
Journal Information:
Physical Review D, Vol. 94, Issue 12; ISSN 2470-0010
Publisher:
American Physical Society (APS)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 32 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (3)

Interacting neutrinos in cosmology: exact description and constraints journal November 2017
Causality and existence of solutions of relativistic viscous fluid dynamics with gravity text January 2017
Far-from-equilibrium attractors and nonlinear dynamical systems approach to the Gubser flow text January 2017

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