Isospin diffusion in thermal AdS/CFT with flavor

We study the gauge/gravity dual of a finite temperature field theory at finite isospin chemical potential by considering a probe of two coincident D7-branes embedded in the AdS-Schwarzschild black hole background. The isospin chemical potential is obtained by giving a vev to the time component of the non-Abelian gauge field on the brane. The fluctuations of the non-Abelian gauge field on the brane are dual to the SU(2) flavor current in the field theory. For the embedding corresponding to vanishing quark mass, we calculate all Green functions corresponding to the components of the flavor current correlator. We discuss the physical properties of these Green functions, which go beyond linear response theory. In particular, we show that the isospin chemical potential leads to a frequency-dependent isospin diffusion coefficient.Comment: 26 pages, 8 figures, typos correcte

From Maxwell-Chern-Simons theory in AdS3AdS_3 towards hydrodynamics in 1+1 dimensions

We study Abelian Maxwell-Chern-Simons theory in three-dimensional $AdS$ black hole backgrounds for both integer and non-integer Chern-Simons coupling. Such theories can be derived from various string theory constructions, which we review in the present work. In particular we find exact solutions in the low frequency, low momentum limit, $\omega, k \ll T$(hydrodynamic limit). Using the holographic principle, we translate our results into correlation functions of vector and scalar operators in the dual strongly coupled 1+1-dimensional quantum field theory with a chiral anomaly at non-zero temperature $T$. Starting from the conformal case we show applicability of the hydrodynamic limit and discuss extensions to the non-conformal case. Correlation functions in the conformal case are compared to an exact field theoretic computation.Comment: 41 pages + appendix, 4 figures, 1 tabl

Fermionic Operator Mixing in Holographic p-wave Superfluids

We use gauge-gravity duality to compute spectral functions of fermionic operators in a strongly-coupled defect field theory in p-wave superfluid states. The field theory is (3+1)-dimensional N=4 supersymmetric SU(Nc) Yang-Mills theory, in the 't Hooft limit and with large coupling, coupled to two massless flavors of (2+1)-dimensional N=4 supersymmetric matter. We show that a sufficiently large chemical potential for a U(1) subgroup of the global SU(2) isospin symmetry triggers a phase transition to a p-wave superfluid state, and in that state we compute spectral functions for the fermionic superpartners of mesons valued in the adjoint of SU(2) isospin. In the spectral functions we see the breaking of rotational symmetry and the emergence of a Fermi surface comprised of isolated points as we cool the system through the superfluid phase transition. The dual gravitational description is two coincident probe D5-branes in AdS5 x S5 with non-trivial worldvolume SU(2) gauge fields. We extract spectral functions from solutions of the linearized equations of motion for the D5-branes' worldvolume fermions, which couple to one another through the worldvolume gauge field. We develop an efficient method to compute retarded Green's functions from a system of coupled bulk fermions. We also perform the holographic renormalization of free bulk fermions in any asymptotically Euclidean AdS space.Comment: 68 pages, 25 eps files in 9 figures; v2 minor corrections, added two references, version published in JHE