Attractor of hydrodynamic attractors

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Chen, Shile, Shi, Shuzhe
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Chen, Shile
Shi, Shuzhe
author_facet Chen, Shile
Shi, Shuzhe
contents Understanding how hydrodynamics emerges rapidly in the medium produced by relativistic heavy-ion collisions remains a key theoretical challenge. While the attractor solution -- manifesting as a non-thermal fixed point during the early evolution stage -- offers a potential explanation, it does not fully account for how far-from-equilibrium systems quickly approach near-equilibrium states. In this Letter, we demonstrate that the attractor in a higher-order hydrodynamic theory converges to the same solution as a second-order theory before reaching the Navier--Stokes limit. This finding suggests that commonly used second-order hydrodynamic equations, provided they incorporate the correct transport coefficients, are adequate to approximate the system's behavior starting from an intermediate time -- even when using a higher-order theory that would be more suitable for describing the far-from-equilibrium evolution.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2509_08864
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Attractor of hydrodynamic attractors
Chen, Shile
Shi, Shuzhe
Nuclear Theory
High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
Understanding how hydrodynamics emerges rapidly in the medium produced by relativistic heavy-ion collisions remains a key theoretical challenge. While the attractor solution -- manifesting as a non-thermal fixed point during the early evolution stage -- offers a potential explanation, it does not fully account for how far-from-equilibrium systems quickly approach near-equilibrium states. In this Letter, we demonstrate that the attractor in a higher-order hydrodynamic theory converges to the same solution as a second-order theory before reaching the Navier--Stokes limit. This finding suggests that commonly used second-order hydrodynamic equations, provided they incorporate the correct transport coefficients, are adequate to approximate the system's behavior starting from an intermediate time -- even when using a higher-order theory that would be more suitable for describing the far-from-equilibrium evolution.
title Attractor of hydrodynamic attractors
topic Nuclear Theory
High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.08864