Violation of the Holographic Viscosity Bound in a Strongly Coupled Anisotropic Plasma

We study the conductivity and shear viscosity tensors of a strongly coupled N=4 super-Yang-Mills plasma which is kept anisotropic by a theta parameter that depends linearly on one of the spatial dimensions. Its holographic dual is given by an anisotropic axion-dilaton-gravity background and has recently been proposed by Mateos and Trancanelli as a model for the pre-equilibrium stage of quark-gluon plasma in heavy-ion collisions. By applying the membrane paradigm which we also check by numerical evaluation of Kubo formula and lowest lying quasinormal modes, we find that the shear viscosity purely transverse to the direction of anisotropy saturates the holographic viscosity bound, whereas longitudinal shear viscosities are smaller, providing the first such example not involving higher-derivative theories of gravity and, more importantly, with fully known gauge-gravity correspondence.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures; v3: references added, version to appear in Phys. Rev. Let

Perturbative and Nonperturbative Kolmogorov Turbulence in a Gluon Plasma

In numerical simulations of nonabelian plasma instabilities in the hard-loop approximation, a turbulent spectrum has been observed that is characterized by a phase-space density of particles $n(p)\sim p^{-\nu}$ with exponent $\nu\simeq 2$, which is larger than expected from relativistic $2\leftrightarrow 2$ scatterings. Using the approach of Zakharov, L'vov and Falkovich, we analyse possible Kolmogorov coefficients for relativistic $(m \ge 4)$-particle processes, which give at most $\nu=5/3$ perturbatively for an energy cascade. We discuss nonperturbative scenarios which lead to larger values. As an extreme limit we find the result $\nu=5$ generically in an inherently nonperturbative effective field theory situation, which coincides with results obtained by Berges et al.\ in large-$N$ scalar field theory. If we instead assume that scaling behavior is determined by Schwinger-Dyson resummations such that the different scaling of bare and dressed vertices matters, we find that intermediate values are possible. We present one simple scenario which would single out $\nu=2$.Comment: published versio

Quantum Mass and Central Charge of Supersymmetric Monopoles - Anomalies, current renormalization, and surface terms

We calculate the one-loop quantum corrections to the mass and central charge of N=2 and N=4 supersymmetric monopoles in 3+1 dimensions. The corrections to the N=2 central charge are finite and due to an anomaly in the conformal central charge current, but they cancel for the N=4 monopole. For the quantum corrections to the mass we start with the integral over the expectation value of the Hamiltonian density, which we show to consist of a bulk contribution which is given by the familiar sum over zero-point energies, as well as surface terms which contribute nontrivially in the monopole sector. The bulk contribution is evaluated through index theorems and found to be nonvanishing only in the N=2 case. The contributions from the surface terms in the Hamiltonian are cancelled by infinite composite operator counterterms in the N=4 case, forming a multiplet of improvement terms. These counterterms are also needed for the renormalization of the central charge. However, in the N=2 case they cancel, and both the improved and the unimproved current multiplet are finite.Comment: 1+40 pages, JHEP style. v2: small corrections and additions, references adde

The 3-graviton vertex function in thermal quantum gravity

The high temperature limit of the 3-graviton vertex function is studied in thermal quantum gravity, to one loop order. The leading ($T^4$) contributions arising from internal gravitons are calculated and shown to be twice the ones associated with internal scalar particles, in correspondence with the two helicity states of the graviton. The gauge invariance of this result follows in consequence of the Ward and Weyl identities obeyed by the thermal loops, which are verified explicitly.Comment: 19 pages, plain TeX, IFUSP/P-100

The dynamics of cosmological perturbations in thermal λϕ4\lambda\phi^4 theory

Using a recent thermal-field-theory approach to cosmological perturbations, the exact solutions that were found for collisionless ultrarelativistic matter are generalized to include the effects from weak self-interactions in a $\lambda\phi^4$ model through order $\lambda^{3/2}$. This includes the effects of a resummation of thermal masses and associated nonlocal gravitational vertices, thus going far beyond classical kinetic theory. Explicit solutions for all the scalar, vector, and tensor modes are obtained for a radiation-dominated Einstein-de Sitter model containing a weakly interacting scalar plasma with or without the admixture of an independent component of perfect radiation fluid.Comment: 32 pages, REVTEX, 13 postscript figures included by epsf.st

Shock wave collisions in AdS5: approximate numerical solutions

We numerically study the evolution of a boost-invariant N=4 SYM medium using AdS/CFT. We consider a toy model for the collision of gravitational shock waves, finding that the energy density first increases, reaches a maximum and then starts to decrease, matching hydrodynamics for late times. For the initial conditions we consider, the hydrodynamic scale governing the late time behaviour is to very good approximation determined by the area of the black hole horizon at initial times. Our results provide a toy model for the early time evolution of the bulk system in heavy-ion collisions at RHIC and the LHC.Comment: 29 pages, 9 figure

The role of quark mass in cold and dense pQCD and quark stars

For almost twenty years the effects of a nonzero strange quark mass on the equation of state of cold and dense QCD were considered to be negligible, thereby yielding only minor corrections to the mass-radius diagram of compact stars. By computing the thermodynamic potential to first order in \alpha_s, and including the effects of the renormalization group running of the coupling and strange quark mass, we show that corrections can be of the order of 25%, and dramatically affect the structure of compact stars.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, contribution to QM2005 proceeding

Thermalization vs. Isotropization & Azimuthal Fluctuations

Hydrodynamic description requires a local thermodynamic equilibrium of the system under study but an approximate hydrodynamic behaviour is already manifested when a momentum distribution of liquid components is not of equilibrium form but merely isotropic. While the process of equilibration is relatively slow, the parton system becomes isotropic rather fast due to the plasma instabilities. Azimuthal fluctuations observed in relativistic heavy-ion collisions are argued to distinguish between a fully equilibrated and only isotropic parton system produced in the collision early stage.Comment: 12 pages, presented at `Correlations and Fluctuations in Relativistic Nuclear Collisions', MIT, April 05, minor correction