2008

Black Hole Dynamics From Atmospheric Science

Van Raamsdonk, Mark

Understand

In this note, we derive (to third order in derivatives of the fluid velocity) a 2+1 dimensional theory of fluid dynamics that governs the evolution of generic long-wavelength perturbations of a black brane or large black hole in four-dimensional gravity with negative cosmological constant, applying a systematic procedure developed recently by Bhattacharyya, Hubeny, Minwalla, and Rangamani.

  • In the regime of validity of the fluid-dynamical description, the black-brane evolution will generically correspond to a turbulent flow.
  • Turbulence in 2+1 dimensions has been well studied analytically, numerically, experimentally, and observationally as it provides a first approximation to the large scale dynamics of planetary atmospheres.
  • These studies reveal dramatic differences between fluid flows in 2+1 and 3+1 dimensions, suggesting that the dynamics of perturbed four and five dimensional large AdS black holes may be qualitatively different.

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