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Gary T. Horowitz

Publications and source records attributed to Gary T. Horowitz.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources
arXiv2011

Gravitational Turbulent Instability of Anti-de Sitter Space

Bizon and Rostworowski have recently suggested that anti-de Sitter spacetime might be nonlinearly unstable to transfering energy to smaller and smaller scales and eventually forming a small black hole. We consider pure gravity with a negative cosmological constant and find strong support for this idea. While one can start with a single linearized mode and add higher order corrections to construct a nonlinear geon, this is not possible starting with a linear combination of two or more modes. One is forced to add higher frequency modes with growing amplitude. The implications of this turbulent instability for the dual field theory are discussed.

hep-th↗
arXiv2011

Black holes with only one Killing field

We present the first examples of black holes with only one Killing field. The solutions describe five dimensional AdS black holes with scalar hair. The black holes are neither stationary nor axisymmetric, but are invariant under a single Killing field which is tangent to the null generators of the horizon. Some of these solutions can be viewed as putting black holes into rotating boson stars. Others are related to the endpoint of a superradiant instability. For given mass and angular momentum (within a certain range) several black hole solutions exist.

hep-th↗
arXiv2011

General black holes in Kaluza-Klein theory

A brief review is given of black holes in Kaluza-Klein theory. This includes both solutions which are homogeneous around the compact extra dimension and those which are not.

gr-qc↗
arXiv2011

Holographic quantum criticality from multi-trace deformations

We explore the consequences of multi-trace deformations in applications of gauge-gravity duality to condensed matter physics. We find that they introduce a powerful new "knob" that can implement spontaneous symmetry breaking, and can be used to construct a new type of holographic superconductor. This knob can be tuned to drive the critical temperature to zero, leading to a new quantum critical point. We calculate nontrivial critical exponents, and show that fluctuations of the order parameter are `locally' quantum critical in the disordered phase. Most notably the dynamical critical exponent is determined by the dimension of an operator at the critical point. We argue that the results are robust against quantum corrections and discuss various generalizations.

hep-th↗
arXiv2010

Complete Phase Diagrams for a Holographic Superconductor/Insulator System

The gravitational dual of an insulator/superconductor transition driven by increasing the chemical potential has recently been constructed. However, the system was studied in a probe limit and only a part of the phase diagram was obtained. We include the backreaction and construct the complete phase diagram for this system. For fixed chemical potential there are typically two phase transitions as the temperature is lowered. Surprisingly, for a certain range of parameters, the system first becomes a superconductor and then becomes an insulator as the temperature approaches zero. As a byproduct of our analysis, we also construct the gravitational dual of a Bose-Einstein condensate of glueballs in a confining gauge theory.

hep-th↗
arXiv2010

New stability results for Einstein scalar gravity

We consider asymptotically anti de Sitter gravity coupled to a scalar field with mass slightly above the Breitenlohner-Freedman bound. This theory admits a large class of consistent boundary conditions characterized by an arbitrary function $W$. An important open question is to determine which $W$ admit stable ground states. It has previously been shown that the total energy is bounded from below if $W$ is bounded from below and the bulk scalar potential $V(ϕ)$ admits a suitable superpotential. We extend this result and show that the energy remains bounded even in some cases where $W$ can become arbitrarily negative. As one application, this leads to the possibility that in gauge/gravity duality, one can add a double trace operator with negative coefficient to the dual field theory and still have a stable vacuum.

hep-th↗
arXiv2010

Introduction to Holographic Superconductors

These lectures give an introduction to the theory of holographic superconductors. These are superconductors that have a dual gravitational description using gauge/gravity duality. After introducing a suitable gravitational theory, we discuss its properties in various regimes: the probe limit, the effects of backreaction, the zero temperature limit, and the addition of magnetic fields. Using the gauge/gravity dictionary, these properties reproduce many of the standard features of superconductors. Some familiarity with gauge/gravity duality is assumed. A list of open problems is included at the end.

hep-th↗
arXiv2009

Photoemission "experiments" on holographic superconductors

We study the effects of a superconducting condensate on holographic Fermi surfaces. With a suitable coupling between the fermion and the condensate, there are stable quasiparticles with a gap. We find some similarities with the phenomenology of the cuprates: in systems whose normal state is a non-Fermi liquid with no stable quasiparticles, a stable quasiparticle peak appears in the condensed phase.

hep-th↗
arXiv2009

Uniqueness of Extremal Kerr and Kerr-Newman Black Holes

We prove that the only four dimensional, stationary, rotating, asymptotically flat (analytic) vacuum black hole with a single degenerate horizon is given by the extremal Kerr solution. We also prove a similar uniqueness theorem for the extremal Kerr-Newman solution. This closes a longstanding gap in the black hole uniqueness theorems.

gr-qc↗
arXiv2009

No Dynamics in the Extremal Kerr Throat

Motivated by the Kerr/CFT conjecture, we explore solutions of vacuum general relativity whose asymptotic behavior agrees with that of the extremal Kerr throat, sometimes called the Near-Horizon Extreme Kerr (NHEK) geometry. We argue that all such solutions are diffeomorphic to the NHEK geometry itself. The logic proceeds in two steps. We first argue that certain charges must vanish at all times for any solution with NHEK asymptotics. We then analyze these charges in detail for linearized solutions. Though one can choose the relevant charges to vanish at any initial time, these charges are not conserved. As a result, requiring the charges to vanish at all times is a much stronger condition. We argue that all solutions satisfying this condition are diffeomorphic to the NHEK metric.

hep-th↗
arXiv2009

Zero Temperature Limit of Holographic Superconductors

We consider holographic superconductors whose bulk description consists of gravity minimally coupled to a Maxwell field and charged scalar field with general potential. We give an analytic argument that there is no "hard gap": the real part of the conductivity at low frequency remains nonzero (although typically exponentially small) even at zero temperature. We also numerically construct the gravitational dual of the ground state of some holographic superconductors. Depending on the charge and dimension of the condensate, the infrared theory can have emergent conformal or just Poincare symmetry. In all cases studied, the area of the horizon of the dual black hole goes to zero in the extremal limit, consistent with a nondegenerate ground state.

hep-th↗
arXiv2008

Holographic Superconductors with Various Condensates

We extend earlier treatments of holographic superconductors by studying cases where operators of different dimension condense in both 2+1 and 3+1 superconductors. We also compute a correlation length. We find surprising regularities in quantities such as $ω_g/T_c$ where $ω_g$ is the gap in the frequency dependent conductivity. In special cases, new bound states arise corresponding to vector normal modes of the dual near-extremal black holes.

hep-th↗
arXiv2008

On Universality of Ergoregion Mergers

We study mergers of ergoregions in $d+1$-dimensional vacuum gravity. At the merger point, where the ergosurfaces bounding each ergoregion just touch, solutions exhibit universal behavior when there is rotation only in one plane: the angle between the merging ergosurfaces depends only on the symmetries of the solution, not on any other details of the configuration. We show that universality follows from the fact that the relevant component of Einstein's equation reduces to Laplace equation at the point of merger. Thus ergoregion mergers mimic mergers of Newtonian equipotentials and have similar universal behavior. For solutions with rotation in more than one plane, universality is lost. We demonstrate universality and non-universality in several explicit examples.

gr-qc↗
arXiv2008

Holographic Superconductors

It has been shown that a gravitational dual to a superconductor can be obtained by coupling anti-de Sitter gravity to a Maxwell field and charged scalar. We review our earlier analysis of this theory and extend it in two directions. First, we consider all values for the charge of the scalar field. Away from the large charge limit, backreaction on the spacetime metric is important. While the qualitative behaviour of the dual superconductor is found to be similar for all charges, in the limit of arbitrarily small charge a new type of black hole instability is found. We go on to add a perpendicular magnetic field B and obtain the London equation and magnetic penetration depth. We show that these holographic superconductors are Type II, i.e., starting in a normal phase at large B and low temperatures, they develop superconducting droplets as B is reduced.

hep-th↗
arXiv2008

Building an AdS/CFT superconductor

We show that a simple gravitational theory can provide a holographically dual description of a superconductor. There is a critical temperature, below which a charged condensate forms via a second order phase transition and the (DC) conductivity becomes infinite. The frequency dependent conductivity develops a gap determined by the condensate. We find evidence that the condensate consists of pairs of quasiparticles.

hep-th↗
arXiv2007

Nonperturbative Instability of AdS_5 x S^5/Z_k

We study the AdS/CFT correspondence with boundary conditions AdS_5 x S^5/Z_k, where the Z_k acts freely but breaks all supersymmetry. While there are closed string tachyons at small 't Hooft coupling, there are no tachyons at large coupling. Nevertheless, we show that there is a nonperturbative instability directly analogous to the decay of the Kaluza-Klein vacuum. We discuss the implications of this instability for the strongly coupled dual field theory, and compare with earlier studies of this theory at weak coupling.

hep-th↗
arXiv2007

Black Holes, Entropy, and Information

Black holes are a continuing source of mystery. Although their classical properties have been understood since the 1970's, their quantum properties raise some of the deepest questions in theoretical physics. Some of these questions have recently been answered using string theory. I will review these fundamental questions, and the aspects of string theory needed to answer them. I will then explain the recent developments and new insights into black holes that they provide. Some remaining puzzles are mentioned in the conclusion.

astro-ph↗