Non-dissipative hydrodynamics: Effective actions versus entropy current

Bhattacharya, Jyotirmoy; Bhattacharyya, Sayantani; Rangamani, Mukund

Abstract

While conventional hydrodynamics incorporating dissipative effects is hard to derive from an action principle, it is nevertheless possible to construct classical actions when the dissipative terms are switched off. In this note we undertake a systematic exploration of such constructions from an effective field theory approach and argue for the existence of non-trivial second order non-dissipative hydrodynamics involving pure energy-momentum transport. We find these fluids to be characterized by five second-order transport coefficients based on the effective action (a three parameter family is Weyl invariant). On the other hand since all flows of such fluids are non-dissipative, they entail zero entropy production; one can therefore understand them using the entropy current formalism which has provided much insight into hydrodynamic transport. An analysis of the most general stress tensor with zero entropy production however turns out to give a seven parameter family of non-dissipative hydrodynamics (a four parameter sub-family being Weyl invariant). The non-dissipative fluids derived from the effective action approach are a special case of the fluid dynamics constrained by conservation of the entropy current. We speculate on the reasons for the mismatch and potential limitations of the effective action approach.

Citation

Bhattacharya, J., Bhattacharyya, S., & Rangamani, M. (2013). Non-dissipative hydrodynamics: Effective actions versus entropy current. Journal of High Energy Physics, 2013(2), Article 153. https://doi.org/10.1007/jhep02%282013%29153

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Feb 28, 2013
• Deposit Date: Nov 15, 2012
• Publicly Available Date: Mar 7, 2013
• Journal: Journal of High Energy Physics
• Print ISSN: 1126-6708
• Electronic ISSN: 1029-8479
• Publisher: Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati (SISSA)
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 2013
• Issue: 2
• Article Number: 153
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/jhep02%282013%29153
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1471066
• Publisher URL: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2FJHEP02%282013%29153