Non-thermal fixed points: effective weak-coupling for strongly correlated systems far from equilibrium

Strongly correlated systems far from equilibrium can exhibit scaling solutions with a dynamically generated weak coupling. We show this by investigating isolated systems described by relativistic quantum field theories for initial conditions leading to nonequilibrium instabilities, such as parametric resonance or spinodal decomposition. The non-thermal fixed points prevent fast thermalization if classical-statistical fluctuations dominate over quantum fluctuations. We comment on the possible significance of these results for the heating of the early universe after inflation and the question of fast thermalization in heavy-ion collision experiments.