First-order relativistic hydrodynamics is stable

By P. Kovtun. Journal of High Energy Physics, 2019

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We study linearized stability in first-order relativistic viscous hydrodynamics in the most general frame. There is a region in the parameter space of transport coefficients where the perturbations of the equilibrium state are stable. This defines a class of stable frames, with the Landau-Lifshitz frame falling outside the class. The existence of stable frames suggests that viscous relativistic fluids may admit a sensible hydrodynamic description in terms of temperature, fluid velocity, and the chemical potential only, i.e. in terms of the same hydrodynamic variables as non-relativistic fluids. Alternatively, it suggests that the Israel-Stewart and similar constructions may be unnecessary for a sensible relativistic hydrodynamic theory.

Subfields: Applied Mathematics, Astronomy and Astrophysics, Nuclear and High Energy Physics

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/beb1b1aa1fb4d545d5007834154532f4b1d905a4