Necessary conditions for causality from linearized stability at ultra-high boosts

Abstract

In this work, we provide a novel method to constrain the causal parameter space of a relativistic hydrodynamic system exclusively from its linear stability analysis at non-zero momenta. Our approach exploits the Lorentz-invariant stability property of causal theories. In boosted frames, the dispersion relation exhibits a feature that we call ``$\gamma$-suppression,'' whereby the higher-order terms in the wavenumber expansion are increasingly suppressed beyond leading order at large boosts. As a consequence, at near-luminal values of Lorentz boost, stability criteria at the spatially homogeneous limit are sufficient to identify the region of the parameter space that satisfies the necessary conditions of causality, even at non-zero momenta. After presenting the general hydrodynamic framework, we test the method in conformal M\"uller-Israel-Stewart theory and show that it provides an efficient way of deriving the necessary conditions of causality while remaining within the low-energy regime of hydrodynamic validity.