369 research outputs found
Continuous Hawking-Page transitions in Einstein-scalar gravity
We investigate continuous Hawking-Page transitions in Einstein's gravity
coupled to a scalar field with an arbitrary potential in the weak gravity
limit. We show that this is only possible in a singular limit where the
black-hole horizon marginally traps a curvature singularity. Depending on the
subleading terms in the potential, a rich variety of continuous phase
transitions arise. Our examples include second and higher order, including the
Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless type. In the case when the scalar is dilaton,
the condition for a continuous phase transition lead to (asymptotically)
linear-dilaton background. We obtain the scaling laws of thermodynamic
functions, as well as the viscosity coefficients near the transition. In the
limit of weak gravitational interactions, the bulk viscosity asymptotes to a
universal constant, independent of the details of the scalar potential. As a
byproduct of our analysis we obtain a one-parameter family of kink solutions in
arbitrary dimension d that interpolate between AdS near the boundary and
linear-dilaton background in the deep interior. The continuous Hawking-Page
transitions found here serve as holographic models for normal-to superfluid
transitions.Comment: 35 pages + appendice
Gravitational collapse and thermalization in the hard wall model
We study a simple example of holographic thermalization in a confining field
theory: the homogeneous injection of energy in the hard wall model. Working in
an amplitude expansion, we find black brane formation for sufficiently fast
energy injection and a scattering wave solution for sufficiently slow
injection. We comment on our expectations for more sophisticated holographic
QCD models.Comment: 33 pages, 5 figure
On the Temperature Dependence of the Shear Viscosity and Holography
We examine the structure of the shear viscosity to entropy density ratio
eta/s in holographic theories of gravity coupled to a scalar field, in the
presence of higher derivative corrections. Thanks to a non-trivial scalar field
profile, eta/s in this setup generically runs as a function of temperature. In
particular, its temperature behavior is dictated by the shape of the scalar
potential and of the scalar couplings to the higher derivative terms. We
consider a number of dilatonic setups, but focus mostly on phenomenological
models that are QCD-like. We determine the geometric conditions needed to
identify local and global minima for eta/s as a function of temperature, which
translate to restrictions on the signs and ranges of the higher derivative
couplings. Finally, such restrictions lead to an holographic argument for the
existence of a global minimum for eta/s in these models, at or above the
deconfinement transition.Comment: references adde
Predictions for PP-wave string amplitudes from perturbative SYM
The role of general two-impurity multi-trace operators in the BMN
correspondence is explored. Surprisingly, the anomalous dimensions of all
two-impurity multi-trace BMN operators to order g_2^2\lambda' are completely
determined in terms of single-trace anomalous dimensions. This is due to
suppression of connected field theory diagrams in the BMN limit and this fact
has important implications for some string theory processes on the PP-wave
background. We also make gauge theory predictions for the matrix elements of
the light-cone string field theory Hamiltonian in the two string-two string and
one string-three string sectors.Comment: 46 pages, 12 figures. V3:typos correcte
Black-hole quasinormal modes and scalar glueballs in a finite-temperature AdS/QCD model
We use the holographic AdS/QCD soft-wall model to investigate the spectrum of
scalar glueballs in a finite temperature plasma. In this model, glueballs are
described by a massless scalar field in an AdS_5 black hole with a dilaton
soft-wall background. Using AdS/CFT prescriptions, we compute the boundary
retarded Green's function. The corresponding thermal spectral function shows
quasiparticle peaks at low temperatures. We also compute the quasinormal modes
of the scalar field in the soft-wall black hole geometry. The temperature and
momentum dependences of these modes are analyzed. The positions and widths of
the peaks of the spectral function are related to the frequencies of the
quasinormal modes. Our numerical results are found employing the power series
method and the computation of Breit-Wigner resonances.Comment: Revision: Results unchanged. More discussions on the model and on the
results. References added. 28 pages, 7 figures, 5 table
Holographic Conformal Window - A Bottom Up Approach
We propose a five-dimensional framework for modeling the background geometry
associated to ordinary Yang-Mills (YM) as well as to nonsupersymmetric gauge
theories possessing an infrared fixed point with fermions in various
representations of the underlying gauge group. The model is based on the
improved holographic approach, on the string theory side, and on the
conjectured all-orders beta function for the gauge theory one. We first analyze
the YM gauge theory. We then investigate the effects of adding flavors and show
that, in the holographic description of the conformal window, the geometry
becomes AdS when approaching the ultraviolet and the infrared regimes. As the
number of flavors increases within the conformal window we observe that the
geometry becomes more and more of AdS type over the entire energy range.Comment: 20 Pages, 3 Figures. v2: references adde
Bulk spectral function sum rule in QCD-like theories with a holographic dual
We derive the sum rule for the spectral function of the stress-energy tensor
in the bulk (uniform dilatation) channel in a general class of strongly coupled
field theories. This class includes theories holographically dual to a theory
of gravity coupled to a single scalar field, representing the operator of the
scale anomaly. In the limit when the operator becomes marginal, the sum rule
coincides with that in QCD. Using the holographic model, we verify explicitly
the cancellation between large and small frequency contributions to the
spectral integral required to satisfy the sum rule in such QCD-like theories.Comment: 16 pages, 2 figure
Heavy quarks in a magnetic field
The motion of a heavy charged quark in a magnetic field is analyzed in the
vacuum of strongly coupled CFT. The motion of the quark is dissipative. It
moves in spiral until it eventually comes to rest. The world-sheet geometry is
locally AdS_2 but has a time dependent horizon. The string profile in the
static gauge extends from the boundary till a point where an embedding
singularity exists. Connections with other circular string motions are
established.Comment: (v3) Misprints corrected, discussion on moving horizons improved and
enhance
Thermodynamics of SU(N) Yang-Mills theories in 2+1 dimensions II - The deconfined phase
We present a non-perturbative study of the equation of state in the
deconfined phase of Yang-Mills theories in D=2+1 dimensions. We introduce a
holographic model, based on the improved holographic QCD model, from which we
derive a non-trivial relation between the order of the deconfinement phase
transition and the behavior of the trace of the energy-momentum tensor as a
function of the temperature T. We compare the theoretical predictions of this
holographic model with a new set of high-precision numerical results from
lattice simulations of SU(N) theories with N=2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 colors. The
latter reveal that, similarly to the D=3+1 case, the bulk equilibrium
thermodynamic quantities (pressure, trace of the energy-momentum tensor, energy
density and entropy density) exhibit nearly perfect proportionality to the
number of gluons, and can be successfully compared with the holographic
predictions in a broad range of temperatures. Finally, we also show that, again
similarly to the D=3+1 case, the trace of the energy-momentum tensor appears to
be proportional to T^2 in a wide temperature range, starting from approximately
1.2 T_c, where T_c denotes the critical deconfinement temperature.Comment: 2+36 pages, 10 figures; v2: comments added, curves showing the
holographic predictions included in the plots of the pressure and energy and
entropy densities, typos corrected: version published in JHE
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