Non-relativistic fluids on scale covariant Newton-Cartan backgrounds

TL;DR

This paper develops a scale covariant Newton-Cartan framework for non-relativistic fluids on curved backgrounds, enabling the study of scale invariance, thermodynamics, and topological effects in such systems.

Contribution

It introduces a Weyl covariant formalism for non-relativistic fluids on scale covariant Newton-Cartan backgrounds, extending the geometric and thermodynamic analysis.

Findings

Ideal fluids satisfy the local second law of thermodynamics.

Scale transformation gauge fields modify Wen-Zee and Berry phase terms.

The formalism applies to low energy Hall fluid descriptions.

Abstract

The non-relativistic covariant framework for fields is extended to investigate fields and fluids on scale covariant curved backgrounds. The scale covariant Newton-Cartan background is constructed using the localization of spacetime symmetries of non-relativistic fields in flat space. Following this, we provide a Weyl covariant formalism which can be used to study scale invariant fluids. By considering ideal fluids as an example, we describe its thermodynamic and hydrodynamic properties and explicitly demonstrate that it satisfies the local second law of thermodynamics. As a further application, we consider the low energy description of Hall fluids. Specifically, we find that the gauge fields for scale transformations lead to corrections of the Wen-Zee and Berry phase terms contained in the effective action.