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Resurrecting the Strong KSS Conjecture

High Energy Physics - Theory 2021-11-17 v1 Nuclear Theory

Abstract

Many counterexamples to the proposed KSS bound ηs14π\frac\eta s \ge \frac 1 {4\pi} depend on constructing systems with large numbers of species. As a result, the entropy density grows large and ηs\frac \eta s can be made arbitrarily small. However, these constructions do not affect the dimensionless shear viscosity ηTϵ+P\frac {\eta T}{\epsilon + P}, which agrees with the traditional ηs\frac \eta s only for vanishing chemical potential. This raises the possibility that a KSS-like bound holds for all systems, not just UV-complete quantum field theories, contrary to the previous understanding.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2111.08158,
  title  = {Resurrecting the Strong KSS Conjecture},
  author = {Scott Lawrence},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2111.08158},
  year   = {2021}
}

Comments

3 pages; comments welcome

R2 v1 2026-06-24T07:39:49.179Z