Out-of-Equilibrium Effects in Non-Radial Relativistic Stellar Perturbations: A Model-Agnostic Formulation and Mode Analysis

Abstract

We present a systematic, model-agnostic analysis of out-of-equilibrium effects, including viscosity and thermal conductivity, in non-radial oscillations of relativistic stars. Extending the Lindblom-Detweiler formalism, we construct, to our knowledge, the first general framework for linear, non-radial relativistic stellar perturbations that incorporates generic nonequilibrium corrections to the perfect-fluid sector in both the even- and odd-parity channels. Our framework is formulated in terms of the tensorial structure and thermodynamic decomposition of generic corrections without relying on any specific constitutive relations, thereby allowing us to elucidate, at a structural level, how these effects enter the perturbation equations and contribute to geometric deformations and fluid fluctuations. As an application, we consider the Bemfica-Disconzi-Noronha-Kovtun fluid and perturbatively investigate shifts in the frequencies and damping times of modes connected to their perfect-fluid counterparts in the limit of vanishing transport coefficients. We also identify structural features of the closed eigenvalue problem that can give rise to additional mode families. Our formalism provides a unified framework for analyzing how different relativistic fluid theories modify the structure of non-radial stellar perturbations.