Hydrodynamic Attractor in a Hubble Expansion

Abstract

We analytically investigate hydrodynamic attractor solutions in both Müller-Israel-Stewart (MIS) and kinetic theories in a viscous fluid system undergoing a Hubble expansion with a fixed expansion rate. We show that the gradient expansion for the MIS theory and the Chapman-Enskog expansion for the Boltzmann equation within the relaxation time approximation are factorially divergent and obtain hydrodynamic attractor solutions by applying the Borel resummation technique to those asymptotic divergent series. In both theories, we find that the hydrodynamic attractor solutions are globally attractive and only the first-order non-hydrodynamic mode exists. We also find that the hydrodynamic attractor solutions in the two theories disagree with each other when gradients become large, and that the speed of the attraction is different. Similarities and differences from hydrodynamic attractors in the Bjorken and Gubser flows are also discussed. Our results push the idea of far-from-equilibrium hydrodynamics in systems undergoing a Hubble expansion.