1211.5087 (Ville Keranen)

Non-equilibrium Wilson loops in N=4 SYM    [PDF]

Ville Keranen

We consider rectangular Wilson loops in certain non-equilibrium quantum states in N=4 SYM at weak coupling, prepared with a quantum quench. We find that in the ladder approximation, the Bethe-Salpeter equation can be reduced to solving a massive 1+1 dimensional wave-equation with a leaking boundary condition leading to a quasinormal behavior analogous to what is found in studying dynamics of fields in black hole backrounds. Furthermore, we find that the Wilson loops with size L thermalize after time T=L/2 in qualitative agreement with gravitational calculations in falling shell models of thermalization.

View original: http://arxiv.org/abs/1211.5087