Strong coupling isotropization of non-Abelian plasmas simplified

TL;DR

This paper investigates the process of isotropization in strongly coupled non-Abelian plasmas using gravity duals, showing that linearized Einstein equations can accurately predict isotropization times even for highly anisotropic states.

Contribution

It demonstrates that linearized Einstein equations around equilibrium effectively approximate the isotropization process in non-Abelian plasmas, simplifying the analysis of complex gravitational dynamics.

Findings

Linear approximation predicts isotropization time within 20%.

Isotropization time is approximately less than 1/T.

Linearized equations work well for large anisotropies.

Abstract

We study the isotropization of a homogeneous, strongly coupled, non-Abelian plasma by means of its gravity dual. We compare the time evolution of a large number of initially anisotropic states as determined, on the one hand, by the full non-linear Einstein's equations and, on the other, by the Einstein's equations linearized around the final equilibrium state. The linear approximation works remarkably well even for states that exhibit large anisotropies. For example, it predicts with a 20% accuracy the isotropization time, which is of the order of t_iso \lesssim 1/T, with T the final equilibrium temperature. We comment on possible extensions to less symmetric situations.