Asymptotic perfect fluid dynamics as a consequence of AdS/CFT correspondence

Abstract

We study the dynamics of strongly interacting gauge-theory matter (modeling quark-gluon plasma) in a boost-invariant setting using the AdS/CFT correspondence. Using Fefferman-Graham coordinates and with the help of holographic renormalization, we show that perfect fluid hydrodynamics emerges at large times as the unique nonsingular asymptotic solution of the nonlinear Einstein equations in the bulk. The gravity dual can be interpreted as a black hole moving off in the fifth dimension. Asymptotic solutions different from perfect fluid behavior can be ruled out by the appearance of curvature singularities in the dual bulk geometry. Subasymptotic deviations from perfect fluid behavior remain possible within the same framework.