Linearized dispersion relations in viscous relativistic hydrodynamics

Abstract: We compute the dispersion relations for scalar, vector and tensor modes of a viscous relativistic fluid, linearized around an equilibrium solution, for a divergence type theory (which, in the linearized theory, includes Israel-Stewart and anisotropic hydrodynamics as particular cases) and contrast them to the corresponding results derived from kinetic theory under the relaxation time approximation, and from causal first order theories. We conclude that all approaches give similar dynamics for the scalar and vector modes, while the particular divergence type theory presented here also contains propagating damped tensor waves, in agreement with kinetic theory. Non hydrodynamic tensor modes are also a feature of holographic fluids. These results support the application of hydrodynamics in problems involving the interaction between fluids and gravitational waves.