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L. Thorlacius

Publications and source records attributed to L. Thorlacius.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
arXiv2020

Logarithmic Negativity in Quantum Lifshitz Theories

We investigate quantum entanglement in a non-relativistic critical system by calculating the logarithmic negativity of a class of mixed states in the quantum Lifshitz model in one and two spatial dimensions. In 1+1 dimensions we employ a correlator approach to obtain analytic results for both open and periodic biharmonic chains. In 2+1 dimensions we use a replica method and consider spherical and toroidal spatial manifolds. In all cases, the universal finite part of the logarithmic negativity vanishes for mixed states defined on two disjoint components. For mixed states defined on adjacent components, we find a non-trivial logarithmic negativity reminiscent of two-dimensional conformal field theories. As a byproduct of our calculations, we obtain exact results for the odd entanglement entropy in 2+1 dimensions.

hep-th↗
arXiv2019

Entanglement Entropy in Generalised Quantum Lifshitz Models

We compute universal finite corrections to entanglement entropy for generalised quantum Lifshitz models in arbitrary odd spacetime dimensions. These are generalised free field theories with Lifshitz scaling symmetry, where the dynamical critical exponent $z$ equals the number of spatial dimensions $d$, and which generalise the 2+1-dimensional quantum Lifshitz model to higher dimensions. We analyse two cases: one where the spatial manifold is a $d$-dimensional sphere and the entanglement entropy is evaluated for a hemisphere, and another where a $d$-dimensional flat torus is divided into two cylinders. In both examples the finite universal terms in the entanglement entropy are scale invariant and depend on the compactification radius of the scalar field.

hep-th↗
arXiv2016

Monopole correlation functions and holographic phases of matter in 2+1 dimensions

The strong coupling dynamics of a 2+1 dimensional U(1) gauge theory coupled to charged matter is holographically modeled via a top-down construction with intersecting D3- and D5-branes. We explore the resulting phase diagram at finite temperature and charge density using correlation functions of monopole operators, dual to magnetically charged particles in the higher-dimensional bulk theory, as a diagnostic.

hep-th↗
arXiv2015

Magnetic oscillations in a holographic liquid

We present a holographic perspective on magnetic oscillations in strongly correlated electron systems via a fluid of charged spin 1/2 particles outside a black brane in an asymptotically anti-de-Sitter spacetime. The resulting back-reaction on the spacetime geometry and bulk gauge field gives rise to magnetic oscillations in the dual field theory, which can be directly studied without introducing probe fermions, and which differ from those predicted by Fermi liquid theory.

hep-th↗
arXiv2013

Holographic geometries for condensed matter applications

Holographic modeling of strongly correlated many-body systems motivates the study of novel spacetime geometries where the scaling behavior of quantum critical systems is encoded into spacetime symmetries. Einstein-Dilaton-Maxwell theory has planar black brane solutions that exhibit Lifshitz scaling and in some cases hyperscaling violation. Entanglement entropy and Wilson loops in the dual field theory are studied by inserting simple geometric probes involving minimal surfaces into the black brane geometry. Coupling to background matter fields leads to interesting low-energy behavior in holographic models, such as U(1) symmetry breaking and emergent Lifshitz scaling.

gr-qc↗
arXiv2012

Friedel Oscillations in Holographic Metals

In this article we study the conditions under which holographic metallic states display Friedel oscillations. We focus on systems where the bulk charge density is not hidden behind a black hole horizon. Understanding holographic Friedel oscillations gives a clean way to characterize the boundary system, complementary to probe fermion calculations. We find that fermions in a "hard wall" AdS geometry unambiguously display Friedel oscillations. However, similar oscillations are washed out for electron stars, suggesting a smeared continuum of Fermi surfaces.

hep-th↗
arXiv2011

Holographic metals at finite temperature

A holographic dual description of a 2+1 dimensional system of strongly interacting fermions at low temperature and finite charge density is given in terms of an electron cloud suspended over the horizon of a charged black hole in asymptotically AdS spacetime. The electron star of Hartnoll and Tavanfar is recovered in the limit of zero temperature, while at higher temperatures the fraction of charge carried by the electron cloud is reduced and at a critical temperature there is a second order phase transition to a configuration with only a charged black hole. The geometric structure implies that finite temperature transport coefficients, including the AC electrical conductivity, only receive contributions from bulk fermions within a finite band in the radial direction.

hep-th↗
arXiv2010

Black Hole Thermodynamics and Heavy Fermion Metals

Heavy fermion alloys at critical doping typically exhibit non-Fermi-liquid behavior at low temperatures, including a logarithmic or power law rise in the ratio of specific heat to temperature as the temperature is lowered. Anomalous specific heat of this type is also observed in a simple class of gravitational dual models that exhibit anisotropic scaling with dynamical critical exponent z > 1.

hep-th↗
arXiv2010

Holographic models with anisotropic scaling

We consider gravity duals to d+1 dimensional quantum critical points with anisotropic scaling. The primary motivation comes from strongly correlated electron systems in condensed matter theory but the main focus of the present paper is on the gravity models in their own right. Physics at finite temperature and fixed charge density is described in terms of charged black branes. Some exact solutions are known and can be used to obtain a maximally extended spacetime geometry, which has a null curvature singularity inside a single non-degenerate horizon, but generic black brane solutions in the model can only be obtained numerically. Charged matter gives rise to black branes with hair that are dual to the superconducting phase of a holographic superconductor. Our numerical results indicate that holographic superconductors with anisotropic scaling have vanishing zero temperature entropy when the back reaction of the hair on the brane geometry is taken into account.

hep-th↗
arXiv2010

Holographic Superconductors with Lifshitz Scaling

Black holes in asymptotically Lifshitz spacetime provide a window onto finite temperature effects in strongly coupled Lifshitz models. We add a Maxwell gauge field and charged matter to a recently proposed gravity dual of 2+1 dimensional Lifshitz theory. This gives rise to charged black holes with scalar hair, which correspond to the superconducting phase of holographic superconductors with z > 1 Lifshitz scaling. Along the way we analyze the global geometry of static, asymptotically Lifshitz black holes at arbitrary critical exponent z > 1. In all known exact solutions there is a null curvature singularity in the black hole region, and, by a general argument, the same applies to generic Lifshitz black holes.

hep-th↗
arXiv2004

c=1 Boundary Conformal Field Theory Revisited

Correlation functions of discrete primary fields in the c=1 boundary conformal field theory of a scalar field in a critical periodic boundary potential are computed using the underlying SU(2) symmetry of the model. Bulk amplitudes are unambigously determined and we give a prescription for amplitudes involving discrete boundary fields.

hep-th↗
arXiv2002

Cosmological Models and Renormalization Group Flow

We study cosmological solutions of Einstein gravity with a positive cosmological constant in diverse dimensions. These include big-bang models that re-collapse, big-bang models that approach de Sitter acceleration at late times, and bounce models that are both past and future asymptotically de Sitter. The re-collapsing and the bounce geometries are all tall in the sense that entire spatial slices become visible to a comoving observer before the end of conformal time, while the accelerating big-bang geometries can be either short or tall. We consider the interpretation of these cosmological solutions as renormalization group flows in a dual field theory and give a geometric interpretation of the associated c-function as the area of the apparent cosmological horizon in Planck units. The covariant entropy bound requires quantum effects to modify the early causal structure of some of our big-bang solutions.

hep-th↗
arXiv2001

The Size of p-Branes

We obtain form factors for scattering of gravitons and anti-symmetric tensor particles off Dirichlet $p$-branes in Type II superstring theory. As expected, the form factor of the -1-brane (the D-instanton) exhibits point-like behavior: in fact it is saturated by a single dilaton tadpole graph. In contrast, $p$-branes with $p>-1$ acquire size of order the string scale due to quantum effects and exhibit Regge behavior. We find their leading form factors in closed form and show that they contain an infinite sequence of poles associated with $p$-brane excitations. Finally, we argue that the $p$-brane form factors for scattering of R-R bosons will have the same stringy features found with NS-NS states.

hep-th↗
arXiv1999

AdS/CFT and the Information Paradox

The information paradox in the quantum evolution of black holes is studied within the framework of the AdS/CFT correspondence. The unitarity of the CFT strongly suggests that all information about an initial state that forms a black hole is returned in the Hawking radiation. The CFT dynamics implies an information retention time of order the black hole lifetime. This fact determines many qualitative properties of the non-local effects that must show up in a semi-classical effective theory in the bulk. We argue that no violations of causality are apparent to local observers, but the semi-classical theory in the bulk duplicates degrees of freedom inside and outside the event horizon. Non-local quantum effects are required to eliminate this redundancy. This leads to a breakdown of the usual classical-quantum correspondence principle in Lorentzian black hole spacetimes.

hep-th↗
arXiv1998

Worldsheet Dynamics of String Junctions

We analyze scattering of string modes at string junctions of type IIB string theory. In the infrared limit, certain orthogonal linear combinations of the fields on the different strings satisfy either Dirichlet or Neumann boundary conditions. We confirm that the worldsheet theory of a general string network has eight conserved supercharges in agreement with target space BPS considerations. As an application, we obtain the band spectrum of some simple string lattices.

hep-th↗
arXiv1996

D-Branes and Physical States

States obtained by projecting boundary states, associated with D-branes, to fixed mass-level and momentum generically define non-trivial cohomology classes. For on-shell states the cohomology is the standard one, but when the states are off-shell the relevant cohomology is defined using a BRST operator with ghost zero modes removed. The zero momentum cohomology falls naturally into multiplets of $SO(D-1,1)$. At the massless level, a simple set of D-brane configurations generates the full set of zero-momentum states of standard ghost number, including the discrete states. We give a general construction of off-shell cohomology classes, which exhibits a non-trivial interaction between left and right movers that is not seen in on-shell cohomology. This includes, at higher mass levels, states obtained from typical D-brane boundary states as well as states with more intricate ghost dependence.

hep-th↗
arXiv1994

Quantum Aspects of Gravity

Contributions from the G1 Working Group at the APS Summer Study on Particle and Nuclear Astrophysics and Cosmology in the Next Millennium, Snowmass, Colorado, June 29 - July 14, 1994. V. Frolov and L. Thorlacius: Quantum Aspects of Gravity. S.B. Giddings and L. Thorlacius: Introduction to the Information Problem. A. Strominger: Two-Dimensional Black Holes and the Information Puzzle. V. Frolov: Entropy of Black Holes. L. Thorlacius: Black Hole Complementarity. D.A. Lowe: Causality in String Theory. A.O. Barvinski: Nonlocal Effective Action and Black Holes. P.C. Argyres: Universality and Scaling in Black Hole Formation.

astro-ph↗