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Main Authors: Gavassino, Lorenzo, Mitra, Sukanya, Singh, Rajeev
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
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Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2606.01805
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author Gavassino, Lorenzo
Mitra, Sukanya
Singh, Rajeev
author_facet Gavassino, Lorenzo
Mitra, Sukanya
Singh, Rajeev
contents By studying a simple model of relativistic particles propagating through a background medium with an energy-dependent relaxation time that is unbounded from above, we investigate how long-term memory obstructs the emergence of local hydrodynamics in systems with a gapless non-hydrodynamic sector. In the RTA matching frame, we show that the full gradient expansion is generically divergent in most flows, even for Fourier modes, and that any resummation necessarily retains an infinite set of slow non-hydrodynamic degrees of freedom. The divergence of the gradient expansion therefore reflects a more fundamental breakdown of hydrodynamic locality caused by persistent non-hydrodynamic memory. We finally show that sufficiently singular relaxation spectra can invalidate ordinary diffusion itself. In these regimes, the diffusivity diverges, and the late-time dynamics become superdiffusive, governed by intrinsically nonlocal constitutive relations.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2606_01805
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Hydrodynamics without a relaxation gap: memory effects, nonlocality, and superdiffusion
Gavassino, Lorenzo
Mitra, Sukanya
Singh, Rajeev
Nuclear Theory
High Energy Physics - Theory
By studying a simple model of relativistic particles propagating through a background medium with an energy-dependent relaxation time that is unbounded from above, we investigate how long-term memory obstructs the emergence of local hydrodynamics in systems with a gapless non-hydrodynamic sector. In the RTA matching frame, we show that the full gradient expansion is generically divergent in most flows, even for Fourier modes, and that any resummation necessarily retains an infinite set of slow non-hydrodynamic degrees of freedom. The divergence of the gradient expansion therefore reflects a more fundamental breakdown of hydrodynamic locality caused by persistent non-hydrodynamic memory. We finally show that sufficiently singular relaxation spectra can invalidate ordinary diffusion itself. In these regimes, the diffusivity diverges, and the late-time dynamics become superdiffusive, governed by intrinsically nonlocal constitutive relations.
title Hydrodynamics without a relaxation gap: memory effects, nonlocality, and superdiffusion
topic Nuclear Theory
High Energy Physics - Theory
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2606.01805