Boost-invariant superfluid flows

Abstract

Abstract We present some exact solutions to the ideal hydrodynamics of a relativistic superfluid with an almost-conformal equation of state. The solutions have stress tensors which are invariant under Lorentz boosts in one direction, and represent superfluid generalisations of the Bjorken and Gubser flows. We also study corrections to the flows in first-order hydrodynamics, arguing that dissipation is dominated by the shear viscosity. We present some simple numerical solutions for these viscous corrections. Finally, we estimate the size of corrections to the flows arising when the spontaneously broken U(1) symmetry responsible for superfluidity is only approximate, giving the corresponding Goldstone boson a small non-zero mass. We find that the massless solutions can still provide good approximations at sufficiently small spatial rapidities.

Keywords

• Field Theory Hydrodynamics
• Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking