Minimally packed phases in holography

Donos, A.; Gauntlett, J.

Abstract

We numerically construct asymptotically AdS black brane solutions of D = 4 Einstein-Maxwell theory coupled to a pseudoscalar. The solutions are holographically dual to d = 3 CFTs at finite chemical potential and in a constant magnetic field, which spontaneously break translation invariance leading to the spontaneous formation of abelian and momentum magnetisation currents flowing around the plaquettes of a periodic Bravais lattice. We analyse the three-dimensional moduli space of lattice solutions, which are generically oblique, and show, for a specific value of the magnetic field, that the free energy is minimised by the triangular lattice, associated with minimal packing of circles in the plane. We show that the average stress tensor for the thermodynamically preferred phase is that of a perfect fluid and that this result applies more generally to spontaneously generated periodic phases. The triangular structure persists at low temperatures indicating the existence of novel crystalline ground states.

Citation

Donos, A., & Gauntlett, J. (2016). Minimally packed phases in holography. Journal of High Energy Physics, 2016(3), Article 148. https://doi.org/10.1007/jhep03%282016%29148

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Mar 9, 2016
• Online Publication Date: Mar 21, 2016
• Publication Date: Mar 21, 2016
• Deposit Date: Mar 30, 2016
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 5, 2016
• Journal: Journal of High Energy Physics
• Print ISSN: 1126-6708
• Electronic ISSN: 1029-8479
• Publisher: Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati (SISSA)
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 2016
• Issue: 3
• Article Number: 148
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/jhep03%282016%29148
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1415701