Critical dynamics of relativistic diffusion

Abstract

We study the dynamics of self-interacting scalar fields with $Z_2$ symmetry governed by a relativistic Israel-Stuart type diffusion equation in the vicinity of a critical point. We calculate spectral functions of the order parameter in mean-field approximation as well as using first-principles classical-statistical lattice simulations in real-time. We observe that the spectral functions are well-described by single Breit-Wigner shapes. Away from criticality, the dispersion matches the expectations from the mean-field approach. At the critical point, the spectral functions largely keep their Breit-Wigner shape, albeit with non-trivial power-law dispersion relations. We extract the characteristic time-scales as well as the dynamic critical exponent $z$, verifying the existence of a dynamic scaling regime. In addition, we derive the universal scaling functions implied by the Breit-Wigner shape with critical power-law dispersion and show that they match the data. Considering equations of motion for a system coupled to a heat bath as well as an isolated system, we perform this study for two different dynamic universality classes, both in two and three spatial dimensions.