Horizon formation and far-from-equilibrium isotropization in supersymmetric Yang-Mills plasma

TL;DR

Using gauge-gravity duality, this work studies the creation and evolution of anisotropic, homogeneous strongly coupled N=4 supersymmetric Yang-Mills plasma, which corresponds to horizon formation in a geometry driven to be an isotropic by a time-dependent change in boundary conditions.

Abstract

Using gauge/gravity duality, we study the creation and evolution of anisotropic, homogeneous strongly coupled $\mathcal N=4$ supersymmetric Yang-Mills plasma. In the dual gravitational description, this corresponds to horizon formation in a geometry driven to be anisotropic by a time-dependent change in boundary conditions.

Figures (3)

• Figure 1: Energy density, longitudinal and transverse pressure, all divided by $N_{\rm c}^2/2\pi^2$, as a function of time for $c = 2$.
• Figure 2: The congruence of outgoing radial null geodesics. The surface coloring displays $A/r^2$. The excised region is beyond the apparent horizon, which is shown by the dashed green line. The geodesic shown as a solid black line is the event horizon; it separates geodesics which escape to the boundary from those which cannot escape.
• Figure 3: Area elements of the true event horizon and the apparent horizon as a function of time.