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Topological sigma models & dissipative hydrodynamics
Abstract
Abstract: We outline a universal Schwinger-Keldysh effective theory which describes macroscopic thermal fluctuations of a relativistic field theory. The basic ingredients of our construction are three: a doubling of degrees of freedom, an emergent abelian symmetry associated with entropy, and a topological (BRST) supersymmetry imposing fluctuationdissipation theorem. We illustrate these ideas for a non-linear viscous fluid, and demonstrate that the resulting effective action obeys a generalized fluctuation-dissipation theorem, which guarantees a local form of the second law.
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