Lifshitz and Schrodinger Vacua, Superstar Resolution in Gauged Maximal Supergravities

We consider the subset of gauged maximal supergravities that consists of the SO(n+1) gauge fields A^{ij} and the scalar deformation T^{ij} of the S^n in the spherical reduction of M-theory or type IIB. We focus on the Abelian Cartan subgroup and the diagonal entries of T^{ij}. The resulting theories can be viewed as the STU models with additional hyperscalars. We find that the theories with only one or two such vectors can be generalized naturally to arbitrary dimensions. The same is true for the D=4 or 5 Einstein-Maxwell theory with such a hyperscalar. The gauge fields become massive, determined by stationary points of the hyperscalars a la the analogous Abelian Higgs mechanism. We obtain classes of Lifshitz and Schrodinger vacua in these theories. The scaling exponent z turns out to be rather restricted, taking fractional or irrational numbers. Tweaking the theories by relaxing the mass parameter or making a small change of the superpotential, we find that solutions with z=2 can emerge. In a different application, we find that the resolution of superstar singularity in the STU models by using bubbling-AdS solitons can be generalized to arbitrary dimensions in our theories. In particular, we obtain the smooth AdS solitons that can be viewed as the resolution of the Reissner-Nordstrom superstars in general dimensions.Comment: Latex, 24 page

Thermodynamics of Lifshitz Black Holes

We specialize the Wald formalism to derive the thermodynamical first law for static black holes with spherical/torus/hyperbolic symmetries in a variety of supergravities or supergravity-inspired theories involving multiple scalars and vectors. We apply the formula to study the first law of a general class of Lifshitz black holes. We analyse the first law of three exact Lifshitz black holes and the results fit the general pattern. In one example, the first law is $TdS + \Phi dQ=0$ where $(\Phi,Q)$ are the electric potential and charge of the Maxwell field. The unusual vanishing of mass in this specific solution demonstrates that super-extremal charged black holes can exist in asymptotic Lifshitz spacetimes.Comment: 27 page

Scalar Charges in Asymptotic AdS Geometries

We show that for n-dimensional Einstein gravity coupled to a scalar field with mass-squared m_0^2=-n(n-2)/(4\ell^2), the first law of thermodynamics of (charged) AdS black holes will be modified by the boundary conditions of the scalar field at asymptotic infinity. Such scalars can arise in gauged supergravities in four and six dimensions, but not in five or seven. The result provides a guiding principle for constructing designer black holes and solitons in general dimensions, where the properties of the dual field theories depend on the boundary conditions.Comment: Latex, 9 pages, references adde

Holographic Heat Current as Noether Current

We employ the Noether procedure to derive a general formula for the radially conserved heat current in AdS planar black holes with certain transverse and traceless perturbations, for a general class of gravity theories. For Einstein gravity, the general higher-order Lovelock gravities and also a class of Horndeski gravities, we derive the boundary stress tensor and show that the resulting boundary heat current matches precisely the bulk Noether current.Comment: Latex, 27 pages, typos corrected, comments added, references adde

Quasi-Topological Ricci Polynomial Gravities

Quasi-topological terms in gravity can be viewed as those that give no contribution to the equations of motion for a special subclass of metric ans\"atze. They therefore play no r\^ole in constructing these solutions, but can affect the general perturbations. We consider Einstein gravity extended with Ricci tensor polynomial invariants, which admits Einstein metrics with appropriate effective cosmological constants as its vacuum solutions. We construct three types of quasi-topological gravities. The first type is for the most general static metrics with spherical, toroidal or hyperbolic isometries. The second type is for the special static metrics where $g_{tt} g_{rr}$ is constant. The third type is the linearized quasi-topological gravities on the Einstein metrics. We construct and classify results that are either dependent on or independent of dimensions, up to the tenth order. We then consider a subset of these three types and obtain Lovelock-like quasi-topological gravities, that are independent of the dimensions. The linearized gravities on Einstein metrics on all dimensions are simply Einstein and hence ghost free. The theories become quasi-topological on static metrics in one specific dimension, but non-trivial in others. We also focus on the quasi-topological Ricci cubic invariant in four dimensions as a specific example to study its effect on holography, including shear viscosity, thermoelectric DC conductivities and butterfly velocity. In particular, we find that the holographic diffusivity bounds can be violated by the quasi-topological terms, which can induce an extra massive mode that yields a butterfly velocity unbound above.Comment: Latex, 56 pages, discussion on shear viscosity revise

Thermodynamics of Einstein-Proca AdS Black Holes

We study static spherically-symmetric solutions of the Einstein-Proca equations in the presence of a negative cosmological constant. We show that the theory admits solutions describing both black holes and also solitons in an asymptotically AdS background. Interesting subtleties can arise in the computation of the mass of the solutions and also in the derivation of the first law of thermodynamics. We make use of holographic renormalisation in order to calculate the mass, even in cases where the solutions have a rather slow approach to the asymptotic AdS geometry. By using the procedure developed by Wald, we derive the first law of thermodynamics for the black hole and soliton solutions. This includes a non-trivial contribution associated with the Proca "charge." The solutions cannot be found analytically, and so we make use of numerical integration techniques to demonstrate their existence.Comment: 35 pages, Improved discussion of cases with logarithmic asymptotic fall off

Horndeski Gravity and the Violation of Reverse Isoperimetric Inequality

We consider Einstein-Horndeski-Maxwell gravity, together with a cosmological constant and multiple Horndeski axions. We construct charged AdS planar black holes in general dimensions where the Horndeski anxions span over the planar directions. We analyse the thermodynamics and obtain the black hole volumes. We show that the reverse isoperimetric inequality can be violated, implying that these black holes can store information more efficiently than the Schwarzschild black hole.Comment: Latex, 25 pages, 1 figure, references adde

Generalised Smarr Formula and the Viscosity Bound for Einstein-Maxwell-Dilaton Black Holes

We study the shear viscosity to entropy ratio $\eta/S$ in the boundary field theories dual to black hole backgrounds in theories of gravity coupled to a scalar field, and generalisations including a Maxwell field and non-minimal scalar couplings. Motivated by the observation in simple examples that the saturation of the $\eta/S\ge 1/(4\pi)$ bound is correlated with the existence of a generalised Smarr relation for the planar black-hole solutions, we investigate this in detail for the general black-hole solutions in these theories, focusing especially on the cases where the scalar field plays a non-trivial role and gives rise to an additional parameter in the space of solutions. We find that a generalised Smarr relation holds in all cases, and in fact it can be viewed as the bulk gravity dual of the statement of the saturation of the viscosity to entropy bound. We obtain the generalised Smarr relation, whose existence depends upon a scaling symmetry of the planar black-hole solutions, by two different but related methods, one based on integrating the first law of thermodynamics, and the other based on the construction of a conserved Noether charge.Comment: Latex, 36 pages, references added, typos corrected, to appear in PR

Magnetically-Charged Black Branes and Viscosity/Entropy Ratios

We consider asymptotically-AdS $n$-dimensional black brane solutions in a theory of gravity coupled to a set of $N$ $p$-form field strengths, in which the field strengths carry magnetic charges. For appropriately chosen charges, the metrics are isotropic in the $(n-2)$ transverse directions. However, in general the field strength configurations break the full Euclidean symmetry of the $(n-2)$-dimensional transverse space. We then study the linearised equation for transverse traceless metric perturbations in these backgrounds, and by employing the Kubo formula we obtain expressions for $\eta/S$, the ratio of shear viscosity to entropy density. We find that the KSS bound on the ratio $\eta/S$ is generally violated in these solutions. We also extend the discussion by including also a dilatonic scalar field in the theory, leading to solutions that are asymptotically Lifshitz with hyperscaling violation.Comment: References added. 21 page