DOI 10.1140/epjc/s10052-014-2727-4 Regular Article- Theoretical Physics Holographic thermalization in N = 4 super Yang–Mills theory

Abstract We investigate the behavior of energy-moment-um tensor correlators in holographic N = 4 super Yang– Mills plasma, taking finite coupling corrections into account. In the thermal limit we determine the flow of quasinormal modes as a function of the ’t Hooft coupling. Then we use a specific model of holographic thermalization to study the deviation of the spectral densities from their thermal limit in an out-of-equilibrium situation. The main focus lies on the thermalization pattern with which the plasma constituents approach their thermal distribution as the coupling con-stant decreases from the infinite coupling limit. All obtained results point towards the weakening of the usual top-down thermalization pattern.