A holographic view on physics out of equilibrium

TL;DR

This paper reviews how holographic duality helps understand non-equilibrium dynamics in strongly coupled quantum field theories, connecting black hole physics with observable field theory phenomena.

Contribution

It synthesizes recent advances in applying holographic methods to non-equilibrium quantum systems, highlighting the relation between quantum evolution and black hole dynamics.

Findings

Holographic techniques elucidate non-equilibrium processes in strongly coupled systems.

The duality links quantum field theory responses to classical black hole dynamics.

Insights into black hole physics can be gained from field theory observables.

Abstract

We review the recent developments in applying holographic methods to understand non-equilibrium physics in strongly coupled field theories. The emphasis will be on elucidating the relation between evolution of quantum field theories perturbed away from equilibrium and the dual picture of dynamics of classical fields in black hole backgrounds. In particular, we discuss the linear response regime, the hydrodynamic regime and finally the non-linear regime of interacting quantum systems. We also describe how the duality might be used to learn some salient aspects of black hole physics in terms of field theory observables.