Split degenerate states and stable p+ip phases from holography

In this paper, we investigate the p+$i$p superfluid phases in the complex vector field holographic p-wave model. We find that in the probe limit, the p+$i$p phase and the p-wave phase are equally stable, hence the p and $i$p orders can be mixed with an arbitrary ratio to form more general p+$\lambda i$p phases, which are also equally stable with the p-wave and p+$i$p phases. As a result, the system possesses a degenerate thermal state in the superfluid region. We further study the case with considering the back reaction on the metric, and find that the degenerate ground states will be separated into p-wave and p+$i$p phases, and the p-wave phase is more stable. Finally, due to the different critical temperature of the zeroth order phase transitions from p-wave and p+$i$p phases to the normal phase, there is a temperature region where the p+$i$p phase exists but the p-wave phase doesn't. In this region we find the stable p+$i$p phase for the first time.Comment: 16 pages, 5 figures; typos correcte

A thermal quench induces spatial inhomogeneities in a holographic superconductor

Holographic duality is a powerful tool to investigate the far-from equilibrium dynamics of superfluids and other phases of quantum matter. For technical reasons it is usually assumed that, after a quench, the far-from equilibrium fields are still spatially uniform. Here we relax this assumption and study the time evolution of a holographic superconductor after a temperature quench but allowing spatial variations of the order parameter. Even though the initial state and the quench are spatially uniform we show the order parameter develops spatial oscillations with an amplitude that increases with time until it reaches a stationary value. The free energy of these inhomogeneous solutions is lower than that of the homogeneous ones. Therefore the former corresponds to the physical configuration that could be observed experimentally.Comment: corrected typos, added references and new results for a different quenc

Characteristic length of a Holographic Superconductor with dd-wave gap

After the discovery of the $s$-wave and $p$-wave holographic superconductors, holographic models of $d$-wave superconductor have also been constructed recently. We study analytically the perturbation of the dual gravity theory to calculate the superconducting coherence length $\xi$ of the $d$-wave holographic superconductor near the superconducting phase transition point. The superconducting coherence length $\xi$ divergents as $(1-T/T_c)^{-1/2}$ near the critical temperature $T_c$. We also obtain the magnetic penetration depth $\lambda\propto(T_c-T)^{-1/2}$ by adding a small external homogeneous magnetic field. The results agree with the $s$-wave and $p$-wave models, which are also the same as the Ginzburg-Landau theory.Comment: last version, 10 pages, accepted by PR

Normal modes and time evolution of a holographic superconductor after a quantum quench

We employ holographic techniques to investigate the dynamics of the order parameter of a strongly coupled superconductor after a perturbation that drives the system out of equilibrium. The gravity dual that we employ is the ${\rm AdS}_5$ Soliton background at zero temperature. We first analyze the normal modes associated to the superconducting order parameter which are purely real since the background has no horizon. We then study the full time evolution of the order parameter after a quench. For sufficiently a weak and slow perturbation we show that the order parameter undergoes simple undamped oscillations in time with a frequency that agrees with the lowest normal model computed previously. This is expected as the soliton background has no horizon and therefore, at least in the probe and large $N$ limits considered, the system will never return to equilibrium. For stronger and more abrupt perturbations higher normal modes are excited and the pattern of oscillations becomes increasingly intricate. We identify a range of parameters for which the time evolution of the order parameter become quasi chaotic. The details of the chaotic evolution depend on the type of perturbation used. Therefore it is plausible to expect that it is possible to engineer a perturbation that leads to the almost complete destruction of the oscillating pattern and consequently to quasi equilibration induced by superposition of modes with different frequencies.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figures, corrected typos, expanded section on chaotic oscillations and new results for other quenc