The second-order quasi-normal modes for AdS black branes

Abstract

We investigate second-order gravitational perturbations in asymptotically AdS black branes, developing a gauge-invariant framework to compute the amplitude ratio between quadratic and linear quasi-normal modes. Our analysis reveals resonant divergences of this ratio when the summed frequencies of two source modes coincide with the frequency of a third mode. These divergences are shown to manifest as poles in three-point fully retarded correlators of the energy-momentum tensor in the holographically dual quantum field theory, establishing a concrete connection between bulk gravitational nonlinearities and observables in the dual boundary theory. Our findings contribute to the understanding of nonlinearity in quantum many-body systems while deepening the holographic dictionary between spacetime dynamics and quantum correlations.