Relativistic heat conduction

César S. López-Monsalvo
General Relativity Group School of Mathematics

1. W   ? 5. O   

We want to understand heat flow in extreme physical situations and over the widest range of The picture below shows a frozen moment. With that information alone we can ask:
scales: from dissipation of the tremendous energies after the big bang, to the spectacular I What will happen next?
explosions of supernovae which give birth to neutron stars and down to the microscopic I Which properties change?
matter smashed at velocities near to the speed of light in particle accelerators. I What does this glass have in common with the big bang, exploding stars and the particles

smashed inside a collider?

In every process in the universe, entropy never decreases!

What does this have to do with heat and relativity?
I Heat is intimately linked to entropy.

I Our most important law should also hold in relativity.

6. O 
To reconcile heat and relativity we proceed as follows:
I Consider matter as a fluid in spacetime.
Figure: The Crab nebula, the remnant of a supernova explosion with a neutron star in the centre (top). First images
I Introduce entropy as another fluid.
taken with the Planck Satellite show tiny variations across the sky in the temperature when the universe was about
300,000 years old (right). “Star” of residual particles after a collision of heavy ions at RHIC (bottom). I Allow interaction between them.

I Obtain the relativistic dynamics of the system.

I Understand the role of different observers.

2. A -  I Interpret the readings of their measurements.

I Ensure that entropy never decreases.

What is the outcome?

I A theory of relativistic heat

conduction which we can use to better understand

Temperature collapsing stars, the big bang and our metal bar.

7. H          

  ?
If we interpret entropy as a fluid interacting with matter, fluid instabilities may occur. When
two or more fluids interact, small disturbances can grow to form interesting patterns such as
those observed in clouds, the Gulf Stream or the shapes in Jupiter’s bands. Our system is
Space Time Space susceptible to similar kind of instabilities. Of special interest is the one known as the
two-stream instability, which we have managed to generalize to a relativistic setting.

Figure: Time evolution showing infinite (left) and finite (right) signal propagation speed.

Imagine we heat the mid-point of a metal bar. How long will it take to feel the heat propagated
if we were holding one of the ends? According to the heat equation we would feel it
instantaneously (if we were sensitive enough). How can this be? Suppose that instead of
heating the bar, we hit it. Waves will propagate towards the ends at the speed of sound. Sound
waves satisfy the wave equation and have a finite propagation speed. The heat equation is not
of this type and therefore heat signals propagate infinitely fast.

3. I      

  ?
One of the most fundamental principles
in science, proposed by Einstein, states that
the speed of light is constant and has the same
value for every observer. Furthermore, no
physical object can travel faster than this speed.
What happens if something travels faster
than the speed of light? Suppose someone
sends you a message with the aid of a device Figure: Bands in Jupiter’s atmosphere (top). Gulf Stream temperature (right). Two-stream instability in clouds
(bottom).
which can transmit signals faster than the
speed of light. One possibility is that you will Answer: We use the two-stream instability analysis to assess stability and to verify that the
discover that the message was sent from your Figure: The apple is at the centre of a spacetime matter models one can propose propagate heat slower than the speed of light.
future! So the device acts as a time-machine. bubble moving faster than the speed of light.
Answer: Relativity is one of our most fundamental theories of nature and it does not allow
signaling faster than the speed of light. Heat propagation is a serious problem in relativity.
8. W   ?
We knew that:
4. H    ? I Classical heat propagates infinitely fast.

I Faster than speed of light signals are not allowed by relativity.

Heat and temperature are two physical concepts which
require a bit of explanation. In the crudest sense, temperature To solve the problem we:
is the quantity we measure with a thermometer and heat is the I Understood heat and temperature in a relativistic setting.

energy exchange between two bodies at different temperatures. I Recognized that the entropy law holds in relativity.

Relativity tells us how to relate the measurements I Interpreted entropy as a fluid interacting

that different observers make of the same thing. Length
appears to contract or time seems to run slower for moving
observers. These effects are important even for everyday
use technology such as GPS. So what about temperature? Does
a moving body appear cool? This question was formulated
by Prof. Peter Landsberg (left) after a series of contradictory
with matter in spacetime following relativistic dynamics.
The resulting dynamical system forms our theory of relativistic
heat conduction.
And now we want to:
I Understand the disturbances in the temperature of the universe.

results for the transformation law of temperature. I Understand the transport mechanisms inside neutron stars.

I Compare our results with other theories.

Answer: To solve this issue and Prof. Landsberg’s question, we need to construct a theory of I Match our work with microscopic physics.

heat from relativistic principles. I Answer Prof. Landsberg’s question.

Credits: References:
1. Sections 1 and 7 are courtesy of NASA, ESA and RHIC. 1. Section 4 ”Does a moving body appear cool?”, Landsberg, P. T., Nature (214), pages 903-904, 1967.
2. Section 5 glass is property of Steve Strawn, splutphoto.com. 2. Section 6 ”Thermal dynamics on general relativity”, Lopez-Monsalvo, C. S. and Andersson, N., In preparation.
The author acknowledges financial support from CONACYT, México. 3. Section 7 ”The relativistic two-stream instability” Samuelsson,L., Lopez-Monsalvo, C.S., Andersson, N. and Comer, G., General Relativity and Gravitation (42), pages 413-433, 2010.

Supervised by Prof. Nils Andersson Contact: cslm1x07@soton.ac.uk