The characteristics of thermalization of boost-invariant plasma from holography

We report on the approach towards the hydrodynamic regime of boost-invariant N=4 super Yang-Mills plasma at strong coupling starting from various far-from-equilibrium states at tau=0. The results are obtained through numerical solution of Einstein's equations for the dual geometries, as described in detail in the companion article arXiv:1203.0755. Despite the very rich far-from-equilibrium evolution, we find surprising regularities in the form of clear correlations between initial entropy and total produced entropy, as well as between initial entropy and the temperature at thermalization, understood as the transition to a hydrodynamic description. For 29 different initial conditions that we consider, hydrodynamics turns out to be definitely applicable for proper times larger than 0.7 in units of inverse temperature at thermalization. We observe a sizable anisotropy in the energy-momentum tensor at thermalization, which is nevertheless entirely due to hydrodynamic effects. This suggests that effective thermalization in heavy ion collisions may occur significantly earlier than true thermalization.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures; see also the companion article arXiv:1203.0755; v2: figure corrected (fixes problem with Acrobat); v3: various clarifications and additional data points added; v4: typo fixed, publishe

Supergravitons from one loop perturbative N=4 SYM

We determine the partition function of 1/16 BPS operators in N=4 SYM at weak coupling at the one-loop level in the planar limit. This partition function is significantly different from the one computed at zero coupling. We find that it coincides precisely with the partition function of a gas of 1/16 BPS `supergravitons' in AdS_5xS^5.Comment: 22 pages; v2: references adde

The AdS_5xS^5 superstring worldsheet S-matrix and crossing symmetry

An S-matrix satisying the Yang-Baxter equation with symmetries relevant to the AdS_5xS^5 superstring has recently been determined up to an unknown scalar factor. Such scalar factors are typically fixed using crossing relations, however due to the lack of conventional relativistic invariance, in this case its determination remained an open problem. In this paper we propose an algebraic way to implement crossing relations for the AdS_5xS^5 superstring worldsheet S-matrix. We base our construction on a Hopf-algebraic formulation of crossing in terms of the antipode and introduce generalized rapidities living on the universal cover of the parameter space which is constructed through an auxillary, coupling constant dependent, elliptic curve. We determine the crossing transformation and write functional equations for the scalar factor of the S-matrix in the generalized rapidity plane.Comment: 27 pages, no figures; v2: sign typo fixed in (24), everything else unchange

Flavors in an expanding plasma

We consider the effect of an expanding plasma on probe matter by determining time-dependent D7 embeddings in the holographic dual of an expanding viscous plasma. We calculate the chiral condensate and meson spectra including contributions of viscosity. The chiral condensate essentially confirms the expectation from the static black hole. For the meson spectra we propose a scheme that is in agreement with the adiabatic approximation. New contributions arise for the vector mesons at the order of the viscosity terms.Comment: 15 pages, 7 figures; v2: accepted for publ. in Phys. Rev. D; revised mass definition agrees with adiabatic approximatio

Real symmetric random matrices and paths counting

Exact evaluation of $$ is here performed for real symmetric matrices $S$ of arbitrary order $n$, up to some integer $p$, where the matrix entries are independent identically distributed random variables, with an arbitrary probability distribution. These expectations are polynomials in the moments of the matrix entries ; they provide useful information on the spectral density of the ensemble in the large $n$ limit. They also are a straightforward tool to examine a variety of rescalings of the entries in the large $n$ limit.Comment: 23 pages, 10 figures, revised pape

Relaxation mechanisms of the persistent spin helix

We study the lifetime of the persistent spin helix in semiconductor quantum wells with equal Rashba- and linear Dresselhaus spin-orbit interactions. In order to address the temperature dependence of the relevant spin relaxation mechanisms we derive and solve semiclassical spin diffusion equations taking into account spin-dependent impurity scattering, cubic Dresselhaus spin-orbit interactions and the effect of electron-electron interactions. For the experimentally relevant regime we find that the lifetime of the persistent spin helix is mainly determined by the interplay of cubic Dresselhaus spin-orbit interaction and electron-electron interactions. We propose that even longer lifetimes can be achieved by generating a spatially damped spin profile instead of the persistent spin helix state.Comment: 12 pages, 2 figure

Effective Low Energy Theories and QCD Dirac Spectra

We analyze the smallest Dirac eigenvalues by formulating an effective theory for the QCD Dirac spectrum. We find that in a domain where the kinetic term of the effective theory can be ignored, the Dirac eigenvalues are distributed according to a Random Matrix Theory with the global symmetries of the QCD partition function. The kinetic term provides information on the slope of the average spectral density of the Dirac operator. In the second half of this lecture we interpret quenched QCD Dirac spectra at nonzero chemical potential (with eigenvalues scattered in the complex plane) in terms of an effective low energy theory.Comment: Invited talk at the 10th International Conference on Recent Progress in Many-Body Theories (MBX), Seattle, September 1999, 13 pages, Latex, with 1 figure, uses ws-p9-75x6-50.cl

Factorization of Seiberg-Witten Curves with Fundamental Matter

We present an explicit construction of the factorization of Seiberg-Witten curves for N=2 theory with fundamental flavors. We first rederive the exact results for the case of complete factorization, and subsequently derive new results for the case with breaking of gauge symmetry U(Nc) to U(N1)xU(N2). We also show that integrality of periods is necessary and sufficient for factorization in the case of general gauge symmetry breaking. Finally, we briefly comment on the relevance of these results for the structure of N=1 vacua.Comment: 24 pages, 2 figure

Multiplication law and S transform for non-hermitian random matrices

We derive a multiplication law for free non-hermitian random matrices allowing for an easy reconstruction of the two-dimensional eigenvalue distribution of the product ensemble from the characteristics of the individual ensembles. We define the corresponding non-hermitian S transform being a natural generalization of the Voiculescu S transform. In addition we extend the classical hermitian S transform approach to deal with the situation when the random matrix ensemble factors have vanishing mean including the case when both of them are centered. We use planar diagrammatic techniques to derive these results.Comment: 25 pages + 11 figure