arXiv subjects

Jonas Mager

Publications and source records attributed to Jonas Mager.

11 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Holographic Soliton Crystals for Dense Nuclear Matter and Neutron Stars

We construct a nuclear-matter equation of state (EOS) from holographic QCD in the Witten-Sakai-Sugimoto (WSS) model, going beyond the homogeneous ansatz by building dense baryonic matter more directly from the solitonic description of holographic baryons. Employing the two-baryon interaction potential obtained from the linearized soliton tails sourced in the curved background by point-like (core) instantons, we assemble an infinite face-centered cubic (FCC) crystal with nearest neighbors in the most attractive channel as an approximation to the quantum liquid of baryons and compute the energy density $\mathcal{E}(n_B)$, the chemical potential $\mu_B$, and the pressure $P$. We calibrate the symmetric-matter EOS by fixing the 't Hooft coupling $\lambda$ and the WSS scale $M_{\rm KK}$ to saturation-density and onset-chemical-potential properties, and by including a quark-mass term to reproduce the physical pion mass $m_\pi=135\,\mathrm{MeV}$. This fit turns out to remain reasonably close to the parameters required by the vacuum meson sector, while their modification is consistent with Brown-Rho scaling in a dense medium, and the incompressibility at saturation is of the correct order of magnitude, both in clear contrast to the homogeneous approximation. We then extend to beta-equilibrated matter, using phenomenological input for the symmetry energy, and obtain hybrid EOS and neutron-star observables that are compatible with the NICER constraints.

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arXiv2026

Status of the hadronic light-by-light contribution to the muon $g-2$ and holographic QCD predictions

We review the recent progress made with regard to the hadronic light-by-light (HLbL) contribution to the Standard Model prediction of the muon anomalous magnetic moment and how well this compares with predictions from holographic QCD models, which had predicted larger contributions from axial vector mesons and short-distance constraints than the White Paper of 2020. A new holographic prediction concerns tensor-meson contributions, which in holographic QCD play a significant role in short-distance constraints beyond the Melnikov-Vainshtein constraint. When matching also the symmetric longitudinal short-distance constraint, the resulting prediction for the tensor-meson transition form factors agree well with available singly virtual data, but lead to different results than the traditional quark-model ansatz and a sizable positive contribution that could explain the remaining current tension between lattice and data-driven results for the HLbL contribution.

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arXiv2025

Properties of Stable Massive Quark Stars in Holography

We study a holographic D3/D7 system, whose dilaton profile has been phenomenologically adjusted in the infrared. The model is used to describe a deconfined yet massive quark phase of QCD at finite density, concluding that the equation of state of such a phase can be stiff enough to support exotic dense stars as massive as 2 solar masses. Nucleons are modeled phenomenologically using the Hebeler-et.al EFT baryon phases. For the stiff phenomenological baryon phases the transition to the quark phase is weakly first order allowing for stable quark cores. We also find that holographic baryons, modeled as wrapped D5-branes, provide unrealistic pressures (in the homogeneous approximation) and have to be discarded. We compute the mass vs. radius relation and tidal deformability for these hybrid stars. Contrary to a large number of other holographic models, this holographic model indicates that quark matter could be present at the core of heavy compact stars and may be used to explore the phenomenology of such objects.

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arXiv2025

Divergences in the hadronic light-by-light amplitude of the holographic soft-wall model

We use the Wentzel-Kramers-Brillouin (WKB) approximation to uncover divergences and instances of non-commuting limits in a large class of holographic soft-wall models. We show that the infinite sum over single resonance contributions for a variety of observables involving the Chern-Simons term, such as the vector-vector-axial (VVA) correlator or the hadronic light-by-light tensor, does not converge. These divergences can in some cases (such as the VVA correlator) be traced back to non-commuting limits and avoided by working directly in the 5-dimensional setup with bulk-to-boundary propagators. However, the hadronic light-by-light scattering tensor also diverges in the 5-dimensional formulation with corresponding Green functions, preventing a correct implementation of the Melnikov-Vainshtein short-distance constraint and even leading to an infinite contribution to the muon $g-2$. We also discuss modifications of the standard soft-wall model that are able to resolve this issue.

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arXiv2025

Longitudinal short-distance constraints on hadronic light-by-light scattering and tensor meson contributions to the muon $g-2$

Short-distance constraints from the operator product expansion in QCD play an important role in the evaluation of the hadronic light-by-light scattering contribution to the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon. While conventional hadronic models involving a finite number of resonances fail to reproduce the correct power laws implied by them, holographic QCD has been shown to naturally incorporate the Melnikov-Vainshtein constraint on the longitudinal amplitude following from the triangle anomaly in the asymmetric limit, where one photon virtuality remains small compared to the others. This is saturated by an infinite tower of axial vector mesons, and their numerical contribution to the muon $g-2$ in AdS/QCD models agrees rather well with a recent dispersive analysis and alternative approaches. However, the longitudinal short-distance constraint where all virtualities are large turns out to be matched only at the level of 81\%. In this Letter we show that tensor mesons, whose contribution to the muon $g-2$ has recently been found to be underestimated, can fill this gap, because in holographic QCD their infinite tower of excited mesons only contributes to the symmetric longitudinal short-distance constraint. Numerically, they give rise to a sizeable positive contribution from the low-energy region below 1.5 GeV, a small one from the mixed region, and a negligible one from the high-energy region, which could explain the remaining gap between the most recent dispersive and lattice results for the complete hadronic light-by-light contribution.

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arXiv2025

Tensor meson transition form factors in holographic QCD and the muon $g-2$

Despite the prominence of tensor mesons in photon-photon collisions, until recently their contribution to the hadronic light-by-light (HLbL) scattering part of the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon has been estimated to be at the level of only a few $10^{-12}$. A recent reanalysis within the dispersive approach has found that after resolving the issue of kinematic singularities in previous approaches, a larger result is obtained, a few $10^{-11}$, and with opposite sign as in previous results, when a simple quark model for the transition form factors is employed. In this paper, we present the first complete evaluation of tensor meson contributions within a hard-wall model in holographic QCD, which reproduces surprisingly well mass, two-photon width, and the observed singly virtual transition form factors of the dominant $f_2(1270)$. Due to a second structure function that is absent in the quark model and in lowest-order resonance chiral theory, the result for $a_\mu$ turns out to be positive instead of negative, and also with a magnitude of a few $10^{-11}$. We find that the infinite tower of tensor mesons permits to fill the gap in the symmetric longitudinal short-distance constraint on the HLbL amplitude left by the contribution of axial vector mesons. Matching the corresponding leading-order OPE result leads to two-photon couplings consistent with the observed combined effects of the ground-state $f_2,a_2,f_2'$ multiplet and a total $a_\mu^\mathrm{Tensor}$ contribution of $+12.4\times 10^{-11}$; with an $F_\rho$ fit this is reduced slightly to $+11.1\times 10^{-11}$. A contribution of this size from the tensor sector could explain the tension between the most recent dispersive and lattice results for $a_\mu^\mathrm{HLbL}$.

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arXiv2024

Superconnections in AdS/QCD and the hadronic light-by-light contribution to the muon $g-2$

In this paper, we consider hard-wall AdS/QCD models extended by a string-theory inspired Chern-Simons action in terms of a superconnection involving a bi-fundamental scalar field which corresponds to the open-string tachyon of brane-antibrane configurations and which is naturally identified with the holographic dual of the quark condensate in chiral symmetry breaking. This realizes both the axial and chiral anomalies of QCD with a Witten-Veneziano mechanism for the $\eta'$ mass in addition to current quark masses, but somewhat differently than in the Katz-Schwartz AdS/QCD model used previously by us to evaluate pseudoscalar and axial vector transition form factors and their contribution to the HLBL piece of the muon $g-2$. Compared to the Katz-Schwartz model, we obtain a significantly more realistic description of axial-vector mesons with regard to $f_1$-$f_1'$ mixing and equivalent photon rates. Moreover, predictions of the $f_1\to e^+e^-$ branching ratios are found to be in line with a recent phenomenological study. However, pseudoscalar transition form factors compare less well with experiment; in particular the $\pi^0$ transition form factor turns out to be overestimated at moderate non-zero virtuality. For the combined HLBL contribution to the muon $g-2$ from the towers of axial vector mesons and excited pseudoscalars we obtain, however, a result very close to that of the Katz-Schwartz model.

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arXiv2022

Hadronic contributions to the muon $g-2$ in holographic QCD

We discuss the recent progress made in using bottom-up holographic QCD models in calculating hadronic contributions to the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon, in particular the hadronic light-by-light scattering contribution, where holographic QCD naturally satisfies the Melnikov-Vainshtein constraint by an infinite series of axial vector meson contributions.

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arXiv2022

Hadronic light-by-light contribution to the muon $g-2$ from holographic QCD with solved $U(1)_A$ problem

We employ the comparatively minimal extension of hard-wall AdS/QCD due to Katz and Schwartz which takes into account the U(1)$_A$ anomaly for computing hadronic light-by-light scattering contributions of pseudoscalar and axial vector mesons to the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon $a_\mu$. By including a gluon condensate as one extra tunable parameter besides those fixed by $f_\pi$ and the pion, kaon, and rho masses, we obtain remarkably accurate fits for $\eta$ and $\eta'$ masses and their decay rates to photons, leading to $a_\mu$ contributions in complete agreement with the Standard Model result by the Muon $g-2$ Theory Initiative. Turning to the less well understood axial vector contributions, we update our previous predictions obtained in flavor-symmetric hard-wall AdS/QCD models without U(1)$_A$ breaking.

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arXiv2021

Holographic QCD and the muon anomalous magnetic moment

We review the recent progress made in using holographic QCD to study hadronic contributions to the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon, in particular the hadronic light-by-light scattering contribution, where the short-distance constraints associated with the axial anomaly are notoriously difficult to satisfy in hadronic models. This requires the summation of an infinite tower of axial vector mesons, which is naturally present in holographic QCD models, and indeed takes care of the longitudinal short-distance constraint due to Melnikov and Vainshtein. Numerically the results of simple hard-wall holographic QCD models point to larger contributions from axial vector mesons than assumed previously, while the predicted contributions from pseudo-Goldstone bosons agree nicely with data-driven approaches.

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arXiv2019

Pseudoscalar transition form factors and the hadronic light-by-light contribution to the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon from holographic QCD

We revisit the predictions for the pseudoscalar-photon transition form factors in bottom-up and top-down holographic QCD models which only use the pion decay constant and the $\rho$ meson mass as input. We find remarkable agreement with the available experimental data for the single-virtual $\pi^0$ form factor that have recently been extended to lower momenta by BESIII, down to 0.3 GeV$^2$. The bottom-up models moreover turn out to be roughly consistent with recent experimental results obtained by BaBar for the double-virtual $\eta'$ form factor at large momenta as well as with a recent lattice extrapolation for the double-virtual $\pi^0$ form factor. Calculating the pion pole contribution to the hadronic light-by-light scattering in the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon, we find that the bottom-up models in question span the range $a_\mu^{\pi^0}=6.1(4)\cdot 10^{-10}, which is somewhat lower than estimated previously by approximating these holographic predictions through simple interpolators, and in remarkably good agreement with recent results based on a dispersive approach or lattice simulations.

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