We give a detailed derivation of the second-order (local) hydrodynamics for Boltzmann equation with an external force by using the renormalization group method. In this method, we solve the Boltzmann equation faithfully to extract the hydrodynamics without recourse to any ansatz. Our method leads to microscopic expressions of not only all the transport coefficients that are of the same form as those in Chapman-Enskog method but also those of the viscous relaxation times
τi that admit physically natural interpretations. As an example, we apply our microscopic expressions to calculate the transport coefficients and the relaxation times of the cold fermionic atoms in a quantitative way, where the transition probability in the collision term is given explicitly in terms of the
s-wave scattering length
as. We thereby discuss the quantum statistical effects, temperature dependence, and scattering-length dependence of the first-order transport coefficients and the viscous relaxation times: It is shown that as the temperature is lowered, the transport coefficients and the relaxation times increase rapidly because Pauli principle acts effectively. On the other hand, as
as is increased, these quantities decrease and become vanishingly small at unitarity because of the strong coupling. The numerical calculation shows that the relation
τπ=η/P, which is derived in the relaxation-time approximation and used in most of literature without almost any foundation, turns out to be satisfied quite well, while the similar relation for the relaxation time
τJ of the heat conductivity is satisfied only approximately with a considerable error.
Local kinetic equilibration is a prerequisite for hydrodynamics to be valid. Here it is described through a nonlinear diffusion equation for finite systems of fermions and bosons. The model is solved exactly for constant transport coefficients in both cases. It has the proper Fermi-Dirac and Bose-Einstein equilibrium limits and can replace the relaxation-time approximation (RTA). The microscopic transport coefficients are determined through the macroscopic variables temperature and local equilibration time. Applications to the transverse energy of quarks and gluons in the initial stages of central relativistic heavy-ion collisions, and to bosonic and fermionic atoms at low energies appropriate for cold quantum gases are discussed.
Spin propagation in systems of one-dimensional interacting fermions at finite temperature is intrinsically diffusive. The spreading rate of a spin packet is controlled by a transport coefficient termed ``spin drag'' relaxation time ${\ensuremath{\tau}}_{\mathrm{sd}}$. In this paper we present both numerical and analytical calculations of ${\ensuremath{\tau}}_{\mathrm{sd}}$ for a two-component spin-polarized cold Fermi gas trapped inside a tight atomic waveguide. At low temperatures we find an activation law for ${\ensuremath{\tau}}_{\mathrm{sd}}$, in agreement with earlier calculations of Coulomb drag between slightly asymmetric quantum wires, but with a different and much stronger temperature dependence of the prefactor. Our results provide a fundamental input for microscopic time-dependent spin-density functional theory calculations of spin transport in one-dimensional inhomogeneous systems of interacting fermions.