Quantum Field Theory Methods in Turbulence and Relativistic Hydrodynamics

Dear Colleagues,

The special issue “Quantum Field Theory Methods in Turbulence and Relativistic Hydrodynamics” aims to provide a meeting place for researchers working in novel approaches to the problem of turbulence and on new applications of hydrodynamics in high-energy scenarios, such as those arising in relativistic heavy-ion collisions (RHICs) and in the early universe.

Quantum field theory was created to provide a mathematical language to high-energy particle physics and has also found important applications in condensed matter physics. Its application to hydrodynamics, and, particularly, turbulence, was pioneered by Kraichnan and Wyld, among others, and made systematic by Martin, Siggia and Rose. This line of work led to a comprehensive attack on the problem of turbulence, leveraging powerful tools such as the exact renormalization group approach. More recently, the application of quantum field theory methods to hydrodynamics has been transformed by the development of new theoretical frameworks, such as those derived from the holographic principle and AdS/CFT correspondence.

This new era in field-theory-based hydrodynamics was driven by new applications that forced us to go beyond the Navier–Stokes equations and their relativistic generalization, the so-called Landau–Lifshitz and Eckart formulations. Outstanding among these new problems is the description of the early stages of RHICs, particularly since we have learned that thermalization and hydrodynamization were actually two related but different problems.

In the meantime, it has also become clear that turbulence plays a leading role in the physics of the era of reheating after inflation. During this epoch, the inflaton field—which powered the explosive expansion of the Universe during the previous inflationary era—decays and transfers its energy to a hot radiation plasma, which becomes turbulent and eventually thermalizes, marking the beginning of the subsequent radiation-dominated era. We, therefore, find processes similar to those in RHICs but at even higher energy scales.

This conjunction of new problems and new theoretical tools calls for an opportunity for interested researchers to meet and exchange ideas—a need this Special Issue aspires to fulfill.

Prof. Dr. Esteban Calzetta
Guest Editor

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