Dissipation in the $1/D$ expansion for planar matrix models

Abstract

We consider the thermal behavior of a large number of matrix degrees of freedom in the planar limit. We work in $0+1$ dimensions, with $D$ matrices, and use $1/D$ as an expansion parameter. This can be thought of as a non-commutative large-$D$ vector model, with two independent quartic couplings for the two different orderings of the matrices. We compute a thermal two-point correlator to $\mathcal{O}(1/D)$ and find that the degeneracy present at large $D$ is lifted, with energy levels split by an amount $\sim 1/\sqrt{D}$. This implies a timescale for thermal dissipation $\sim \sqrt{D}$. At high temperatures dissipation is predominantly due to one of the two quartic couplings.

32 pages. v2: added references. v3: additional discussion in the introduction and conclusions