arXiv subjects

Francesco Bigazzi

Publications and source records attributed to Francesco Bigazzi.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Hagedorn temperature from holography: rotating and charged systems

Using the string/field theory correspondence as a tool, we study the dependence of the Hagedorn temperature of strongly coupled, planar gauge theories on angular velocities and chemical potentials for $U(1)$ global currents. Our results are obtained from an interplay of world-sheet semiclassical quantization methods and target space low energy effective ones. The Hagedorn temperature is given as an expansion in the inverse (large) 't Hooft coupling limit. Working to quadratic order in the fluctuations, the world-sheet analysis provides the leading, the next-to-leading and part of the next-to-next-to leading order terms. In particular, it captures the NNLO $\log 2$ terms which are due to the contributions of non-zero modes to the zero-point energy. These modes are not accounted for by the effective approach, within which they have to be included by hand using suitable educated guesses. On the other hand, the effective methods allow to compute in a relatively easy way the missing NNLO pieces (and even further subleading corrections), which could be accounted for from the world-sheet approach only working at quartic (or higher) order in the fluctuations. We present general results and several examples in various dimensions, including both confining models and conformal field theories on spheres (such as $\mathcal N=4$ SYM and ABJM) dual to string theories on global $AdS$ spaces.

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arXiv2026

Bubble wall velocity and nucleation rates in inverse holographic phase transitions

We study the dynamics of first-order inverse phase transitions (driven by superheating) at strong coupling, focusing on the top-down Witten-Sakai-Sugimoto model for holographic QCD. Two cases are considered: the deconfinement transition in the unflavored version of the model and a chiral symmetry-restoring transition occurring in the deconfined phase of the full theory. In both cases, we imagine driving the system into a metastable phase at high temperature, inducing the nucleation of bubbles of the stable phase. For both classes of transitions, we find the corresponding Euclidean bounce solutions and compute the bubble nucleation rates and the relevant transition parameters. For the deconfinement transition, the large jump in the number of degrees of freedom between the two phases suggests that the bubble wall velocity is parametrically small; we provide a rough estimate of it near the critical temperature. In the case of the chiral transition, instead, we compute the bubble wall velocity and the friction force exerted on the bubbles employing motivated ansatze and approximations for the steady-state configurations.

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arXiv2025

Holographic Baryons as Quantum Hall Droplets

We provide a first-principle construction of baryons as quantum Hall droplets in single-flavor holographic QCD. The baryons are described as charged D6-branes with a circular boundary on a flavor D8-brane in the Type IIA backgrounds dual to the confining and non-confining phases. The holographic description allows us to calculate precisely their properties, such as mass and size. We also consider other objects with baryonic charge, such as vortons, domain walls with holes, and "sandwich vortons", and discuss the relative (meta)stability of all these configurations.

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arXiv2025

Holographic Hagedorn Temperature: Strong Coupling, Flavor and $θ$-angle Effects

We study the Hagedorn temperature $T_H$ of strongly coupled quantum field theories admitting a holographic string or M-theory description in various regimes and scenarios. In the first part of the paper we propose a ``thermal scalar'' effective approach to the calculation of $T_H$ in eleven-dimensional supergravity. The proposal allows to extend the existing results for $T_H$ to the strongly coupled string regime, i.e. to a previously unexplored regime of field theory parameters where the number of colors $N$ is smaller than (some power of) the 't Hooft coupling $λ$. We can thus extend the existing results for the $α'$ expansion of the ABJM model, which have a spectacular agreement with predictions from integrability, in a different direction in parameter space. In particular, we explicitate the first non-perturbative corrections. We also apply the formalism to the Witten-Yang-Mills model, finding that the result for the ratio of $T_H$ with the deconfinement temperature is in the same ballpark of the lattice one for pure Yang-Mills. Within the same model, we study the dependence of the Hagedorn temperature on the $θ$-angle. In the second part of the paper we analyze the effect of dynamical flavors on $T_H$ in confining theories. By studying the few available examples of regular backgrounds dual to confining theories with flavors, we find that generally the effects of flavors is to reduce the value of $T_H$ in units of the square root of the confining string tension. The effect turns out to be milder than the analogous reduction of the critical temperature for deconfinement when the latter is known.

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arXiv2025

Hagedorn temperature in holography: world-sheet and effective approaches

We provide general results on the Hagedorn temperature of planar, strongly coupled confining gauge theories holographically dual to type II superstring models on curved backgrounds with Ramond-Ramond and Kalb-Ramond fluxes and non-trivial dilaton. For exact backgrounds the Hagedorn temperature is determined up to next-to-next-to-next-to-leading order (NNNLO) in an expansion in $α'$; in all the other cases the results can be safely trusted up to NNLO. To reach these goals we exploit two complementary approaches. On the one hand, we perform an extrapolation to the Hagedorn regime of world-sheet results obtained from the semiclassical quantization of string configurations winding around the compact Euclidean time direction. En passant, we provide a detailed derivation of the fermionic part of the world-sheet spectrum, which is hard to find in the literature. On the other hand, we perturbatively solve the equations of motion for the thermal scalar field corresponding to the lightest mode of the winding string, which in flat space becomes tachyonic above the Hagedorn temperature. The interplay between different approaches is surely convenient, but we provide insights about a possible derivation of the whole NNLO correction to the Hagedorn temperature from a pure world-sheet perspective; furthermore, we determine the effective mass of the thermal scalar from the world-sheet in full generality.

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arXiv2025

Cosmic Topological Defects from Holography

This work investigates cosmic topological defects in gauge theories, focusing on models with an $SU(N)$ gauge group coupled with a single flavor, explored through a holographic framework. At low energies, the effective theory is described by an axion-like particle resulting from the spontaneous breaking of the axial $U(1)_A$ flavor symmetry. As the Universe cools below a critical temperature, the chiral symmetry is broken, and non-trivial vacuum configurations form, resulting in the creation of cosmic strings and domain walls. We provide a UV description of these defects in a particular holographic theory, the Witten-Sakai-Sugimoto model, as probe D6-branes. We show the presence of a first-order phase transition separating string loop from domain wall solutions. String loops charged under the baryon symmetry and with angular momentum - vortons - can be understood as excitations of a topological phase of matter given by a Chern-Simons theory living on the D6-brane world volume. Finally, we provide an effective description of string loops and vortons in terms of degrees of freedom living on the flavor brane, i.e. mesonic modes.

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arXiv2025

Higher Order Corrections to the Hagedorn Temperature at Strong Coupling

We propose a general formula for higher order corrections to the value of the Hagedorn temperature of a class of holographic confining gauge theories in the strong coupling expansion. Inspired by recent proposals in the literature, the formula combines the sigma-model string expansion with an effective approach. In particular, it includes the sigma-model contributions to the Hagedorn temperature at next-to-next-to leading order, which are computed in full generality. For ${\cal N}=4$ SYM on $S^3$ our result agrees with numerical field theory estimates with excellent precision. We use the general formula to predict the value of the Hagedorn temperature for ABJM on $S^2$ and for the dual of purely RR global $AdS_3$.

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arXiv2023

Resonance contributions to nucleon spin structure in Holographic QCD

We study polarized inelastic electron-nucleon scattering at low momentum transfer in the Witten-Sakai-Sugimoto model of holographic QCD, focusing on resonance production contributions to the nucleon spin structure functions. Our analysis includes both spin $3/2$ and spin $1/2$ low-lying nucleon resonances with positive and negative parity. We determine, in turn, the helicity amplitudes for nucleon-resonance transitions and the resonance contributions to the neutron and proton generalized spin polarizabilities. Extrapolating the model parameters to realistic QCD data, our analysis, triggered by recent experimental results from Jefferson Lab, agrees with the observation that the $Δ(1232)$ resonance gives the dominant contribution to the forward spin polarizabilities at low momentum transfer. The contribution is negative and tends to zero as the momentum transfer increases. As expected, the contribution of the $Δ(1232)$ to the longitudinal-transverse polarizabilities is instead negligible. The latter, for both nucleons, turn out the be negative functions with zero asymptote. The holographic results, at least for the proton where enough data are available, are in qualitative agreement with the resonance contributions to the spin polarizabilities extracted from experimental data on the helicity amplitudes.

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arXiv2023

Semiclassical Quantization of the Superstring and Hagedorn Temperature

In a recent paper [1], the semiclassical quantization of a string, winding once around the compact Euclidean time circle, on a supergravity background dual to the deep infrared regime of a confining finite temperature gauge theory, was carried out. The string mass-shell condition and, by extrapolation, the Hagedorn temperature to leading order in the holographic limit was deduced. In this work, we improve on those results in three ways. First, we fix some missing details of the related light-cone quantization analysis. Second, we reconsider the problem under the lens of a background-covariant geometrical formalism. This allows us to put the semiclassical mass-shell condition on more solid grounds. Finally, going beyond the semiclassical regime, we compute the Hagedorn temperature at next-to-leading order in the holographic limit. The sub-leading correction turns out to arise entirely from the contribution of the zero modes of the massive worldsheet scalar fields. Our result matches that of a recent analysis in the literature based on the Horowitz-Polchinski stringy star effective model.

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arXiv2023

Axionic Strings, Domain Walls and Baryons

When axionic strings carry a global charge, domain walls bounded by such strings may not be allowed to decay completely. This happens in particular in some models where a composite axion-like particle is the pseudo-Nambu-Goldstone boson of chiral symmetry breaking of an extra quark flavor. In this case the global symmetry is the extra flavor baryonic symmetry. The corresponding axionic domain walls can carry a baryonic charge: they represent the low energy description of the baryons made by the extra quark flavor. Basic properties of these particles, such as spin, mass scale, size are discussed. The corresponding charged axionic strings are explicitly constructed and studied in a specific calculable model.

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arXiv2023

On the Hagedorn Temperature in Holographic Confining Gauge Theories

The divergence of the string partition function due to the exponential growth of states is a well-understood issue in flat spacetime. It can be interpreted as the appearance of tachyon modes above a certain temperature, known as the Hagedorn temperature $T_H$. In the literature, one can find some intuitions about its generalization to curved spacetimes, where computations are extremely hard and explicit results cannot be provided in general. In this paper, we present a genus-zero estimate of $T_H$, at leading order in $α'$, for string theories on curved backgrounds holographically dual to confining gauge theories. This is a particularly interesting case, since the holographic correspondence equates $T_H$ with the Hagedorn temperature of the dual gauge theories. For concreteness we focus on Type IIA string theory on a well known background dual to an $SU(N)$ Yang-Mills theory. The resulting Hagedorn temperature turns out to be proportional to the square root of the Yang-Mills confining string tension. The related coefficient, which at leading order is analytically determined, is the same as the one for Type II theories in flat space. While the calculation is performed in a specific model, the result applies in full generality to confining gauge theories with a top-down holographic dual.

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arXiv2023

Hall Droplet Sheets in Holographic QCD

In single-flavor QCD, the low energy description of baryons as Skyrmions is not available. In this case, it has been proposed by Komargodski that baryons can be viewed as kinds of charged quantum Hall droplets, or "sheets". In this paper we propose a string theory description of the sheets in single-flavor holographic QCD, focusing on the Witten-Sakai-Sugimoto model. The sheets have a "hard" gluonic core, described by D6-branes, and a "soft" mesonic shell, dual to non-trivial D8-brane gauge field configurations. We first provide the description of an infinitely extended sheet with massless or moderately massive quarks. Then, we construct a semi-infinite sheet ending on a one-dimensional boundary, a "vortex string". The holographic description allows for the precise calculation of sheet observables. In particular, we compute the tension and thickness of the sheet and the vortex string, and provide their four dimensional effective actions.

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arXiv2021

Holographic and QFT Complexity with angular momentum

We study the influence of angular momentum on quantum complexity for CFT states holographically dual to rotating black holes. Using the holographic complexity=action (CA) and complexity=volume (CV) proposals, we study the full time dependence of complexity and the complexity of formation for two dimensional states dual to rotating BTZ. The obtained results and their dependence on angular momentum turn out to be analogous to those of charged states dual to Reissner-Nordström AdS black holes. For CA, our computation carefully accounts for the counterterm in the gravity action, which was not included in previous analysis in the literature. This affects the complexity early time dependence and its effect becomes negligible close to extremality. In the grand canonical ensemble, the CA and CV complexity of formation are linear in the temperature, and diverge with the same structure in the speed of light angular velocity limit. For CA the inclusion of the counterterm is crucial for both effects. We also address the problem of studying holographic complexity for higher dimensional rotating black holes, focusing on the four dimensional Kerr-AdS case. Carefully taking into account all ingredients, we show that the late time limit of the CA growth rate saturates the expected bound, and find the CV complexity of formation of large black holes diverges in the critical angular velocity limit. Our holographic analysis is complemented by the study of circuit complexity in a two dimensional free scalar model for a thermofield double (TFD) state with angular momentum. We show how this can be given a description in terms of non-rotating TFD states introducing mode-by-mode effective temperatures and times. We comment on the similarities and differences of the holographic and QFT complexity results.

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arXiv2021

Bubble Wall Velocity at Strong Coupling

Using the holographic correspondence as a tool, we determine the steady-state velocity of expanding vacuum bubbles nucleated within chiral finite temperature first-order phase transitions occurring in strongly-coupled large $N$ QCD-like models. We provide general formulae for the friction force exerted by the plasma on the bubbles and for the steady-state velocity. In the top-down holographic description, the phase transitions are related to changes in the embedding of $Dq$-${\bar Dq}$ flavor branes probing the black hole background sourced by a stack of $N$ $Dp$-branes. We first consider the Witten-Sakai-Sugimoto $D4$-$D8$-$\bar D8$ setup, compute the friction force and deduce the equilibrium velocity. Then we extend our analysis to more general setups and to different dimensions. Finally, we briefly compare our results, obtained within a fully non-perturbative framework, to other estimates of the bubble velocity in the literature.

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arXiv2021

Dark Holograms and Gravitational Waves

Spectra of stochastic gravitational waves (GW) generated in cosmological first-order phase transitions are computed within strongly correlated theories with a dual holographic description. The theories are mostly used as models of dark sectors. In particular, we consider the so-called Witten-Sakai-Sugimoto model, a $SU(N)$ gauge theory coupled to different matter fields in both the fundamental and the adjoint representations. The model has a well-known top-down holographic dual description which allows us to perform reliable calculations in the strongly coupled regime. We consider the GW spectra from bubble collisions and sound waves arising from two different kinds of first-order phase transitions: a confinement/deconfinement one and a chiral symmetry breaking/restoration one. Depending on the model parameters, we find that the GW spectra may fall within the sensibility region of ground-based and space-based interferometers, as well as of Pulsar Timing Arrays. In the latter case, the signal could be compatible with the recent potential observation by NANOGrav. When the two phase transitions happen at different critical temperatures, characteristic spectra with double frequency peaks show up. Moreover, in this case we explicitly show how to correct the redshift factors appearing in the formulae for the GW power spectra to account for the fact that adiabatic expansion from the first transition to the present times cannot be assumed anymore.

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arXiv2020

Fate of false vacua in holographic first-order phase transitions

Using the holographic correspondence as a tool, we study the dynamics of first-order phase transitions in strongly coupled gauge theories at finite temperature. Considering an evolution from the large to the small temperature phase, we compute the nucleation rate of bubbles of true vacuum in the metastable phase. For this purpose, we find the relevant configurations (bounces) interpolating between the vacua and we compute the related effective actions. We start by revisiting the compact Randall-Sundrum model at high temperature. Using holographic renormalization, we compute the kinetic term in the effective bounce action, that was missing in the literature. Then, we address the full problem within the top-down Witten-Sakai-Sugimoto model. It displays both a confinement/deconfinement and a chiral symmetry breaking/restoration phase transition which, depending on the model parameters, can happen at different critical temperatures. For the confinement/deconfinement case we perform the numerical analysis of an effective description of the transition and also provide analytic expressions using thick and thin wall approximations. For the chiral symmetry transition, we implement a variational approach that allows us to address the challenging non-linear problem stemming from the Dirac-Born-Infeld action.

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arXiv2020

Non-derivative Axionic Couplings to Nucleons at large and small N

Among the possible CP-odd couplings of the axion to ordinary matter, the most relevant ones for phenomenology are the Yukawa couplings to nucleons. We analyze such non-derivative couplings within three different approaches: standard effective field theory, the Skyrme model and holographic QCD. In all the cases, the couplings can be related to the CP-odd non-derivative couplings to nucleons of the low-lying mesons and the $η'$. Using the effective field theory approach we discuss how to derive the expressions for the CP-odd interaction terms as functions of the parameters of the effective Lagrangian at generic number of colors $N_c$ and flavors $N_f$. Then, we compute the CP-odd couplings to nucleons of the axion, the $η'$ and the pseudo-Goldstone mesons in both the Skyrme and the holographic QCD model with $N_f=2,3$. We present model-independent expressions for the coefficients of the non-derivative axion-nucleon couplings. This allows us to provide quantitative estimates of these couplings.

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arXiv2019

The Holographic QCD Axion

A holographic model of QCD axion is presented. It describes a composite axion in the KSVZ class. Having a gravity dual, based on the Witten-Sakai-Sugimoto model, it is calculable in the strongly coupled regime. Its basic properties are derived, including the low energy Lagrangian, from which the axion couplings to nucleons can be derived. Basic features in the deconfined phase are studied as well. In particular, the temperature dependence of the axion mass is extracted from the topological susceptibility. As an aside, the topological susceptibility of strongly coupled ${\cal N}=4$ SYM at finite temperature is derived for the first time.

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