187 research outputs found
Chiral Transition of N=4 Super Yang-Mills with Flavor on a 3-Sphere
We use the AdS/CFT correspondence to perform a numerical study of a phase
transition in strongly-coupled large-Nc N = 4 Super-Yang-Mills theory on a
3-sphere coupled to a finite number Nf of massive N = 2 hypermultiplets in the
fundamental representation of the gauge group. The gravity dual system is a
number Nf of probe D7-branes embedded in AdS_5 x S^5. We draw the phase diagram
for this theory in the plane of hypermultiplet mass versus temperature and
identify for temperatures above the Hawking-Page deconfinement temperature a
first-order phase transition line across which the chiral condensate jumps
discontinuously.Comment: 23 pages, 15 figures, minor corrections, reference added, nine
figures improved, no change in results or conclusions; expanded discussion of
fixing finite counterterms in section 3.3, figures updated, no changes to
conclusion
Embedding massive flavor in ABJM
We add massive fundamental matter to the ABJM model by adding D6-branes
wrapped asymptotically over RP3. We find two types of solutions at finite
temperature, one that enters the black hole and one that ends before the black
hole. We analyze the behavior of the free energy as a function of temperature,
and find that the system exhibits a phase transition between the two types of
solutions, similar to what happens in the D3-D7 system. We also analyze the
meson spectrum in the model and find several massive scalar modes, again, quite
like the D3-D7 system. We end with a calculation of the conductivities in the
two phases.Comment: 26 pages, 6 figures; version published in JHE
High power diode laser modification of the wettability characteristics of an Al2O3/SiO2 based oxide compound for improved enamelling
High power diode laser (HPDL) surface melting of a thin layer of an amalgamated Al2O3/SiO2 oxide
compound (AOC) resulted in significant changes in the wettability characteristics of the material.
This behaviour was identified as being primarily due to: (i) the polar component of the AOC surface
energy increasing after laser melting from 2.0 to 16.2 mJm-2, (ii) the surface roughness of the AOC
decreasing from an Ra value of 25.9 to 6.3 μm after laser melting and (iii) the relative surface oxygen
content of the AOC increasing by 36% after laser melting. HPDL melting was consequently
identified as affecting a decrease in the enamel contact angle from 1180 prior to laser melting to 330
after laser melting; thus allowing the vitreous enamel to wet the AOC surface. The effective melt
depth for such modifications was measured as being from 50 to 125 μm. The morphological,
microstructural and wetting characteristics of the AOC were determined using optical microscopy,
scanning electron microscopy, energy disperse X-ray analysis, X-ray diffraction techniques and
wetting experiments by the sessile drop technique. The work has shown that laser radiation can be
used to alter the wetting characteristics of the AOC only when surface melting occurs
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
Quantum Hall Effect in a Holographic Model
We consider a holographic description of a system of strongly coupled
fermions in 2+1 dimensions based on a D7-brane probe in the background of
D3-branes, and construct stable embeddings by turning on worldvolume fluxes. We
study the system at finite temperature and charge density, and in the presence
of a background magnetic field. We show that Minkowski-like embeddings that
terminate above the horizon describe a family of quantum Hall states with
filling fractions that are parameterized by a single discrete parameter. The
quantization of the Hall conductivity is a direct consequence of the
topological quantization of the fluxes. When the magnetic field is varied
relative to the charge density away from these discrete filling fractions, the
embeddings deform continuously into black-hole-like embeddings that enter the
horizon and that describe metallic states. We also study the thermodynamics of
this system and show that there is a first order phase transition at a critical
temperature from the quantum Hall state to the metallic state.Comment: v2: 27 pages, 12 figures. There is a major revision in the
quantitative analysis. The qualitative results and conclusions are unchanged,
with one exception: we show that the quantum Hall state embeddings, which
exist for discrete values of the filling fraction, deform continuously into
metallic state embeddings away from these filling fraction
The Effect of Pressure on Halogen Bonding in 4-Iodobenzonitrile
The crystal structure of 4-iodobenzonitrile, which is monoclinic (space group I2/a) under ambient conditions, contains chains of molecules linked through C≡N···I halogen-bonds. The chains interact through CH···I, CH···N and π-stacking contacts. The crystal structure remains in the same phase up to 5.0 GPa, the b axis compressing by 3.3%, and the a and c axes by 12.3 and 10.9 %. Since the chains are exactly aligned with the crystallographic b axis these data characterise the compressibility of the I···N interaction relative to the inter-chain interactions, and indicate that the halogen bond is the most robust intermolecular interaction in the structure, shortening from 3.168(4) at ambient pressure to 2.840(1) Å at 5.0 GPa. The π∙∙∙π contacts are most sensitive to pressure, and in one case the perpendicular stacking distance shortens from 3.6420(8) to 3.139(4) Å. Packing energy calculations (PIXEL) indicate that the π∙∙∙π interactions have been distorted into a destabilising region of their potentials at 5.0 GPa. The structure undergoes a transition to a triclinic ( P 1 ¯ ) phase at 5.5 GPa. Over the course of the transition, the initially colourless and transparent crystal darkens on account of formation of microscopic cracks. The resistance drops by 10% and the optical transmittance drops by almost two orders of magnitude. The I···N bond increases in length to 2.928(10) Å and become less linear [<C−I∙∙∙N = 166.2(5)°]; the energy stabilises by 2.5 kJ mol−1 and the mixed C-I/I..N stretching frequency observed by Raman spectroscopy increases from 249 to 252 cm−1. The driving force of the transition is shown to be relief of strain built-up in the π∙∙∙π interactions rather than minimisation of the molar volume. The triclinic phase persists up to 8.1 GPa
Sum rules, plasma frequencies and Hall phenomenology in holographic plasmas
We study the AC optical and hall conductivities of Dp/Dq-branes intersections
in the probe approximation and use sum-rules to study various associated
transport coefficients. We determine that the presence of massive fundamental
matter, as compared to massless fundamental matter described holographically by
a theory with no dimensional defects, reduces the plasma frequency. We further
show that this is not the case when the brane intersections include defects. We
discuss in detail how to implement correctly the regularization of retarded
Green's functions so that the dispersion relations are satisfied and the low
energy behaviour of the system is physically realistic.Comment: 25 pages, 5 figures. v2.minor changes, published versio
Chiral phase transitions and quantum critical points of the D3/D7(D5) system with mutually perpendicular E and B fields at finite temperature and density
We study chiral symmetry restoration with increasing temperature and density
in gauge theories subject to mutually perpendicular electric and magnetic
fields using holography. We determine the chiral symmetry breaking phase
structure of the D3/D7 and D3/D5 systems in the temperature-density-electric
field directions. A magnetic field may break the chiral symmetry and an
additional electric field induces Ohm and Hall currents as well as restoring
the chiral symmetry. At zero temperature the D3/D5 system displays a line of
holographic BKT phase transitions in the density-electric field plane, while
the D3/D7 system shows a mean-field phase transition. At intermediate
temperatures, the transitions in the density-electric field plane are of first
order at low density, transforming to second order at critical points as
density rises. At high temperature the transition is only ever first order.Comment: 15 pages, 7 figures, v2: Added a referenc
Zero Sound in Strange Metallic Holography
One way to model the strange metal phase of certain materials is via a
holographic description in terms of probe D-branes in a Lifshitz spacetime,
characterised by a dynamical exponent z. The background geometry is dual to a
strongly-interacting quantum critical theory while the probe D-branes are dual
to a finite density of charge carriers that can exhibit the characteristic
properties of strange metals. We compute holographically the low-frequency and
low-momentum form of the charge density and current retarded Green's functions
in these systems for massless charge carriers. The results reveal a
quasi-particle excitation when z<2, which in analogy with Landau Fermi liquids
we call zero sound. The real part of the dispersion relation depends on
momentum k linearly, while the imaginary part goes as k^2/z. When z is greater
than or equal to 2 the zero sound is not a well-defined quasi-particle. We also
compute the frequency-dependent conductivity in arbitrary spacetime dimensions.
Using that as a measure of the charge current spectral function, we find that
the zero sound appears only when the spectral function consists of a single
delta function at zero frequency.Comment: 20 pages, v2 minor corrections, extended discussion in sections 5 and
6, added one footnote and four references, version published in JHE
Holographic DC conductivities from the open string metric
We study the DC conductivities of various holographic models using the open
string metric (OSM), which is an effective metric geometrizing density and
electromagnetic field effect. We propose a new way to compute the nonlinear
conductivity using OSM. As far as the final conductivity formula is concerned,
it is equivalent to the Karch-O'Bannon's real-action method. However, it yields
a geometrical insight and technical simplifications. Especially, a real-action
condition is interpreted as a regular geometry condition of OSM. As
applications of the OSM method, we study several holographic models on the
quantum Hall effect and strange metal. By comparing a Lifshitz background and
the Light-Cone AdS, we show how an extra parameter can change the temperature
scaling behavior of conductivity. Finally we discuss how OSM can be used to
study other transport coefficients, such as diffusion constant, and effective
temperature induced by the effective world volume horizon.Comment: 33 page
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