Gradient Expansion Research Articles

Two theorems for the gradient expansion of relativistic hydrodynamics

This letter is dedicated to providing proof of two statements concerning the gradient expansion of relativistic hydrodynamics. The first statement is that the ordering of transverse derivatives is irrelevant in the gradient expansion of a non-conformal fluid. The second statement is that the longitudinal projection of the Weyl covariant derivative can be eliminated in the gradient expansion of a conformal fluid. This second statement does not apply to curvature tensors. In the conformal case, we know that the ordering of Weyl covariant derivatives is irrelevant in the gradient expansion.

Chiral vortical effect in accelerated matter

We revisit evaluation of the chiral vortical effect in accelerated matter. To first order in the acceleration the corresponding matrix element of the axial current can be reconstructed from its flat-space limit. A crucial point is existence of an extra conservation law of fluid helicity which is not related to the symmetry of the Lagrangian. As a result, one can reproduce, via the equivalence principle, the effect of the so-called gravimagnetic anomaly; resolving in this way a long standing puzzle of its interpretation. Moreover, as a consequence of the extra conservation law the microscopic axial charge and helicity of the macroscopic motion are separately conserved. Some further consequences from the matching of the equivalence principle with hydrodynamics concerning higher orders in gradient expansion or in the acceleration are briefly discussed.

Non-conformal attractor in boost-invariant plasmas

We study the dissipative evolution of (0+1)-dimensionally expanding media with Bjorken symmetry using the Boltzmann equation for massive particles in relaxation-time approximation. Breaking conformal symmetry by a mass induces a non-zero bulk viscous pressure in the medium. It is shown that even a small mass (in units of the local temperature) drastically modifies the well-known attractor for the shear Reynolds number previously observed in massless systems. For generic nonzero particle mass, neither the shear nor the bulk viscous pressure relax quickly to a non-equilibrium attractor; they approach the hydrodynamic limit only late, at small values of the inverse Reynolds numbers. Only the longitudinal pressure, which is a combination of thermal, shear and bulk viscous pressures, continues to show early approach to a far-off-equilibrium attractor, driven by the rapid longitudinal expansion at early times. Second-order dissipative hydrodynamics based on a gradient expansion around locally isotropic thermal equilibrium fails to reproduce this attractor.

Chiral response of spin-spiral states as the origin of chiral transport fingerprints of spin textures

The transport properties of nontrivial spin textures are coming under closer scrutiny as the amount of experimental data and theoretical simulations is increasing. To extend the commonly accepted yet simplifying and approximate picture of transport effects taking place in systems with spatially varying magnetization, it is important to understand the transport properties of building blocks for spin textures---the homochiral spin-spiral states. In this work, by referring to phenomenological symmetry arguments based on the gradient expansion, and explicit calculations within the Kubo framework, we study the transport properties of various types of spin-spirals in a two-dimensional model with strong spin-orbit interaction. In particular, we focus on the contributions to the magnetoconductivity, the planar Hall effect, and the anomalous Hall effect, which are sensitive to the sense of chirality of the spiral states. We analyze the emergence, symmetry, and microscopic properties of the resulting chiral magnetoconductivity, chiral planar Hall effect, and chiral Hall effect in terms of spin-spiral propagation direction, cone angle, spiral pitch, and disorder strength. Our findings suggest that the presence of spin-spiral states in magnets can be readily detected in various types of magnetotransport setups. Moreover, the sizable magnitude of chiral contributions to the conductivity of skyrmions estimated from homochiral spirals implies that chiral, as opposed to topological, magnetotransport can play a prominent role for the detection of nontrivial spin textures.

Gauge-field production during axion inflation in the gradient expansion formalism

We study the explosive production of gauge fields during axion inflation in a novel gradient expansion formalism that describes the time evolution of a set of bilinear electromagnetic functions in position space. Based on this formalism, we are able to simultaneously account for two important effects that have thus far been mostly treated in isolation: (i) the backreaction of the produced gauge fields on the evolution of the inflaton field and (ii) the Schwinger pair production of charged particles in the strong gauge-field background. This allows us to show that the suppression of the gauge-field production due to the Schwinger effect can prevent the backreaction in scenarios in which it would otherwise be relevant. Moreover, we point out that the induced current, $\boldsymbol{J} = \sigma \boldsymbol{E}$, also dampens the Bunch-Davies vacuum fluctuations deep inside the Hubble horizon. We describe this suppression by a new parameter $\Delta$ that is related to the time integral over the conductivity $\sigma$ which hence renders the description of the entire system inherently nonlocal in time. Finally, we demonstrate how our formalism can be used to construct highly accurate solutions for the mode functions of the gauge field in Fourier space, which serves as a starting point for a wealth of further phenomenological applications, including the phenomenology of primordial perturbations and baryogenesis.

Covariant chiral kinetic equation in non-Abelian gauge field from \u201ccovariant gradient expansion\u201d

We derive the chiral kinetic equation in 8 dimensional phase space in non- Abelian SU(N) gauge field within the Wigner function formalism. By using the “covariant gradient expansion”, we disentangle the Wigner equations in four-vector space up to the first order and find that only the time-like component of the chiral Wigner function is independent while other components can be explicit derivative. After further decomposing the Wigner function or equations in color space, we present the non-Abelian covariant chiral kinetic equation for the color singlet and multiplet phase-space distribution functions. These phase-space distribution functions have non-trivial Lorentz transformation rules when we define them in different reference frames. The chiral anomaly from non-Abelian gauge field arises naturally from the Berry monopole in Euclidian momentum space in the vacuum or Dirac sea contribution. The anomalous currents as non-Abelian counterparts of chiral magnetic effect and chiral vortical effect have also been derived from the non-Abelian chiral kinetic equation.

Resonant optical topological Hall conductivity from skyrmions

We study the high frequency Hall conductivity in a two-dimensional (2D) model of conduction electrons coupled to a background magnetic skyrmion texture via an effective Hund's coupling term. For an ordered skyrmion crystal, a Kubo formula calculation using the basis of skyrmion crystal Chern bands reveals a resonant Hall response at a frequency set by the Hund's coupling: $\hbar\omega_{\text{res}} \approx J_H$. A complementary real-space Kubo formula calculation for an isolated skyrmion in a box reveals a similar resonant Hall response. A linear relation between the area under the Hall resonant curve and the skyrmion density is discovered numerically and is further elucidated using a gradient expansion which is valid for smooth textures and a local approximation based on a spin-trimer calculation. We point out the issue of distinguishing this skyrmion contribution from a similar feature arising from spin-orbit interactions, as demonstrated in a model for Rashba spin-orbit coupled electrons in a collinear ferromagnet, which is analogous to the difficulty of unambiguously separating the d.c. topological Hall effect from the anomalous Hall effect. The resonant feature in the high frequency topological Hall effect is proposed to provide a potentially useful local optical signature of skyrmions via probes such as scanning magneto-optical Kerr microscopy.

Development of novel kinetic energy functional for orbital-free density functional theory applications

The development of novel Kinetic Energy (KE) functionals is an important topic in density functional theory (DFT). In particular, this happens by means of an analysis with newly developed benchmark sets. Here, I present a study of Laplacian-level kinetic energy functionals applied to metallic nanosystems. The nanoparticles are modeled using jellium sph eres of different sizes, background densities, and number of electrons. The ability of different functionals to reproduce the correct kinetic energy density and potential of various nanoparticles is investigated and analyzed in terms of semilocal descriptors. Most semilocal KE functionals are based on modifications of the second-order gradient expansion GE2 or GE4. I find that the Laplacian contribute is fundamental for the description of the energy and the potential of nanoparticles.

Nonlocal exchange and correlation energy functionals using the Yukawa potential as ingredient: Application to the linear response of the uniform electron gas

We show that the reduced, dimensionless Yukawa potential ${y}_{\ensuremath{\alpha}}$ can be employed as an important ingredient in the construction of the exchange and correlation energy functionals. A functional based on ${y}_{\ensuremath{\alpha}}$ provides a better description of the exchange and correlation linear response functions of the homogeneous electron gas, not only at small wave vectors, where gradient expansions are correct, but also at large wave vectors, where semilocal exchange and correlation functionals fail badly. Moreover, the ${y}_{\ensuremath{\alpha}}$ ingredient gives a realistic description of the exchange energy and potential at the nuclear cusp and the inner atomic core, where the semilocal ingredients (i.e., the reduced gradient and Laplacian of the density) are not suitable, causing divergence of the potential. Thus, the ${y}_{\ensuremath{\alpha}}$ ingredient can be attractive for the development of various exchange-correlation functionals.

Analysis of atomic Pauli potentials and their large-Z limit.

Modeling the Pauli energy, the contribution to the kinetic energy caused by Pauli statistics, without using orbitals is the open problem of orbital-free density functional theory. An important aspect of this problem is correctly reproducing the Pauli potential, the response of the Pauli kinetic energy to a change in density. We analyze the behavior of the Pauli potential of non-relativistic neutral atoms under Lieb-Simon scaling-the process of taking nuclear charge and particle number to infinity, in which the kinetic energy tends to the Thomas-Fermi limit. We do this by mathematical analysis of the near-nuclear region and by calculating the exact orbital-dependent Pauli potential using the approach of Levy and Ouyang for closed-shell atoms out to element Z = 976. In rough analogy to Lieb and Simon's own findings for the charge density, we find that the potential does not converge smoothly to the Thomas-Fermi limit on a point-by-pointbasis but separates into several distinct regions of behavior. Near the nucleus, the potential approaches a constant given by the difference in energy between the lowest and highest occupied eigenvalues. We discover a transition region in the outer core where the potential deviates unexpectedly and predictably from both the Thomas-Fermi potential and the gradient expansion correction to it. These results may provide insight into the semi-classical description of Pauli statistics and new constraints to aid the improvement of orbital-free density functional theory functionals.

Long-wavelength nonlinear perturbations of a complex scalar field

We study the evolution of nonlinear superhorizon perturbations in a universe dominated by a complex scalar field. The analysis is performed adopting the gradient expansion approach, in the constant mean curvature slicing. We derive general solutions valid to second order in the ratio $H^{-1}/L$ for scalar field inhomogeneities of size $L$ subject to an arbitrary canonical potential. We work out explicit solutions for the quadratic and the quartic potentials, and discuss their relevance in setting initial conditions required for the simulations of Primordial Black Hole formation.

ΔN and the stochastic conveyor belt of ultra slow-roll inflation

We analyze field fluctuations during an ultra slow-roll phase in the stochastic picture of inflation and the resulting non-Gaussian curvature perturbation, fully including the gravitational backreaction of the field's velocity. By working to leading order in a gradient expansion, we first demonstrate that consistency with the momentum constraint of general relativity prevents the field velocity from having a stochastic source, reflecting the existence of a single scalar dynamical degree of freedom on long wavelengths. We then focus on a completely level potential surface, $V={V}_{0}$, extending from a specified exit point ${\ensuremath{\phi}}_{\mathrm{e}}$, where slow roll resumes or inflation ends, to $\ensuremath{\phi}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}+\ensuremath{\infty}$. We compute the probability distribution in the number of $e$-folds $\mathcal{N}$ required to reach ${\ensuremath{\phi}}_{\mathrm{e}}$, which allows for the computation of the curvature perturbation. We find that, if the field's initial velocity is high enough, all points eventually exit through ${\ensuremath{\phi}}_{\mathrm{e}}$ and a finite curvature perturbation is generated. On the contrary, if the initial velocity is low, some points enter an eternally inflating regime despite the existence of ${\ensuremath{\phi}}_{\mathrm{e}}$. In that case, the probability distribution for $\mathcal{N}$, although normalizable, does not possess finite moments, leading to a divergent curvature perturbation.

Power corrections and gradient expansion in QED transport theory

The hard thermal loop (HTL) effective field theory of QED can be derived from the classical limit of transport theory, corresponding to the leading term in a gradient expansion of the quantum approach. In this paper, we show that power corrections to the HTL effective Lagrangian of QED can also be obtained from transport theory by including higher orders in such gradient expansion. The gradient expansion is increasingly infrared (IR) divergent, but the correction that we compute is IR finite. We employ dimensional regularization, and show that this result comes after a cancellation of divergencies between the vacuum and medium contributions. While the transport framework is an effective field theory of the long distance physics of the plasma, we show that it correctly reproduces the correct QED ultraviolet divergencies associated with the photon wave function renormalization.

Hydrodynamic attractor in a Hubble expansion

We analytically investigate hydrodynamic attractor solutions in both M\"{u}ller-Israel-Stewart (MIS) and kinetic theories in a viscous fluid system undergoing a Hubble expansion with a fixed expansion rate. We show that the gradient expansion for the MIS theory and the Chapman-Enskog expansion for the Boltzmann equation within the relaxation time approximation are factorially divergent and obtain hydrodynamic attractor solutions by applying the Borel resummation technique to those asymptotic divergent series. In both theories, we find that the hydrodynamic attractor solutions are globally attractive and only the first-order non-hydrodynamic mode exists. We also find that the hydrodynamic attractor solutions in the two theories disagree with each other when gradients become large, and that the speed of the attraction is different. Similarities and differences from hydrodynamic attractors in the Bjorken and Gubser flows are also discussed. Our results push the idea of far-from-equilibrium hydrodynamics in systems undergoing a Hubble expansion.

Second order relativistic viscous hydrodynamics within an effective description of hot QCD medium

The second-order hydrodynamic equations for evolution of shear and bulk viscous pressure have been derived within the framework of covariant kinetic theory based on the effective fugacity quasiparticle model. The temperature-dependent fugacity parameter in the equilibrium distribution function leads to a mean field term in the Boltzmann equation which affects the interactions in the hot QCD matter. The viscous corrections to distribution function, up to second-order in gradient expansion, have been obtained by employing a Chapman–Enskog like iterative solution of the effective Boltzmann equation within the relaxation time approximation. The effect of mean field contributions to transport coefficients as well as entropy current has been studied up to second-order in gradients. In contrast to the previous calculations, we find non-vanishing entropy flux at second order. The effective description of relativistic second-order viscous hydrodynamics, for a system of interacting quarks and gluons, has been quantitatively analyzed in the case of the 1 + 1-dimensional boost invariant longitudinal expansion. We study the proper time evolution of temperature, pressure anisotropy, and viscous corrections to entropy density for this simplified expansion. The second order evolution of quark–gluon plasma is seen to be affected significantly with the inclusion of mean field contributions and the realistic equation of state.

Relativistic resistive dissipative magnetohydrodynamics from the relaxation time approximation

Here we derive the relativistic resistive dissipative second-order magnetohydrodynamic evolution equations using the Boltzmann equation, thus extending our work from the previous paper \href{https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/JHEP03(2021)216}{JHEP 03 (2021) 216} where we considered the non-resistive limit. We solve the Boltzmann equation for a system of particles and antiparticles using the relaxation time approximation and the Chapman-Enskog like gradient expansion for the off-equilibrium distribution function, truncating beyond second-order. In the first order, the bulk and shear stress are independent of the electromagnetic field, however, the diffusion current, shows a dependence on the electric field. In the first order, the transport coefficients~(shear and bulk stress) are shown to be independent of the electromagnetic field. The diffusion current, however, shows a dependence on the electric field. In the second-order, the new transport coefficients that couple electromagnetic field with the dissipative quantities appear, which are different from those obtained in the 14-moment approximation~\cite{Denicol:2019iyh} in the presence of the electromagnetic field. Also we found out the various components of conductivity in this case.

Hydrodynamic gradient expansion in linear response theory

A foundational question in relativistic fluid mechanics concerns the properties of the hydrodynamic gradient expansion at large orders. We establish the precise conditions under which this gradient expansion diverges for a broad class of microscopic theories admitting a relativistic hydrodynamic limit, in the linear regime. Our result does not rely on highly symmetric fluid flows utilized by previous studies of heavy-ion collisions and cosmology. The hydrodynamic gradient expansion diverges whenever energy density or velocity fields have support in momentum space exceeding a critical momentum, and converges otherwise. This critical momentum is an intrinsic property of the microscopic theory and is set by branch point singularities of hydrodynamic dispersion relations.

Hierarchical microphase separation in non-conserved active mixtures

Non-equilibrium phase separating systems with reactions, such as biomolecular condensates and bacteria colonies, can break time-reversal symmetry (TRS) in two distinct ways. Firstly, the conservative and non-conservative sectors of the dynamics can be governed by incompatible free energies; when both sectors are present, this is the leading-order TRS violation, captured in its simplest form by ‘Model AB’. Second, the diffusive dynamics can break TRS in its own right. This happens only at higher order in the gradient expansion (but is the leading behaviour without reactions present) and is captured by ‘Active Model B+’ (AMB+). Each of the two mechanisms can lead to microphase separation, by quite different routes. Here we introduce Model AB+, for which both mechanisms are simultaneously present, and show that for slow reaction rates the system can undergo a new type of hierarchical microphase separation, which we call ‘bubbly microphase separation’. In this state, small droplets of one fluid are continuously created and absorbed into large droplets, whose length-scales are controlled by the competing reactive and diffusive dynamics.

Continuum simulation of non-local effects in a granular silo discharge flow using a regularized μ(I) rheology model

The effect of non-local momentum transport on a silo discharge process is numerically investigated using a continuum simulation with the μ(I) rheology model in which the gradient expansion model is adopted to account for the non-local effects due to the non-uniform field of inertial number I [Bouzid et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 111, 238301 (2013)]. The singularity for I = 0 is handled with a regularization scheme [Lin and Yang, J. Comput. Phys. 420, 109708 (2020)]. Compared to the discharge dynamics predicted with the local μ(I) rheology model, the non-local effect enhances the velocity field to increase the volume discharge flow rate Q, especially when the silo orifice L is narrower. Both the local and non-local flow simulations conform to the Beverloo relation Q=Cρg(L−kd)3/2, where d is the intrinsic grain diameter but the non-local effects appear to lessen the orifice reduction effect coefficient k. The difference between the local and the non-local flow rates ΔQ¯, made dimensionless by ρgd3/2, grew monotonically with decreasing L/d with a slight enhancement if the silo height-to-width aspect ratio deviates from unity. Finally, we evaluated the ratio of the shear strain rate to the instantaneous maximum value to define a high-shear zone when the ratio is above a threshold and studied its evolution from the onset to the end of the discharge process. Interestingly, non-local momentum transport helped to reduce the size of the high-shear zone to give a more uniformly fluidized central zone above the orifice.

Magnetoelectric effects in superconductors due to spin-orbit scattering: Nonlinear σ -model description

We suggest a generalization of nonlinear $\sigma$-model for diffusive superconducting systems to account for magnetoelectric effects due to spin-orbit scattering. In the leading orders of spin-orbit strength and gradient expansion it includes two additional terms responsible for the spin-Hall effect and the spin-current swapping. First, assuming a delta-correlated disorder we derive the new terms from the Keldysh path integral representation of the generating functional. Then we argue phenomenologically that they exhaust all invariants allowed in the effective action to the leading order in the spin-orbit coupling (SOC). Finally, the results are confirmed by a direct derivation of the saddle-point (Usadel) equation from the quantum kinetic equations in the presence of randomly distributed impurities with SOC. At this point we correct a recent derivation of the Usadel equation that includes magneto-electric effects and does not resort to the Born approximation.