arXiv subjects

Niko Jokela

Publications and source records attributed to Niko Jokela.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

arXiv2019

Memory effect in Yang-Mills theory

We study the empirical realisation of the memory effect in Yang-Mills theory, especially in view of the classical vs. quantum nature of the theory. Gauge invariant analysis of memory in classical U(1) electrodynamics and its observation by total change of transverse momentum of a charge is reviewed. Gauge fixing leads to a determination of a gauge transformation at infinity. An example of Yang-Mills memory then is obtained by reinterpreting known results on interactions of a quark and a large high energy nucleus in the theory of Color Glass Condensate. The memory signal is again a kick in transverse momentum, but it is only obtained in quantum theory after fixing the gauge, after summing over an ensemble of classical processes.

hep-th↗

arXiv2019

Holographic QCD in the Veneziano limit and neutron stars

We use the holographic V-QCD models to analyse the physics of dense QCD and neutron stars. Accommodating lattice results for thermodynamics of QCD enables us to make generic predictions for the Equation of State (EoS) of the quark matter phase in the cold and dense regime. We demonstrate that the resulting pressure in V-QCD matches well with a family of neutron-star-matter EoSs that interpolate between state-of-the-art theoretical results for low and high density QCD. After implementing the astrophysical constraints, i.e., the largest known neutron star mass and the recent LIGO/Virgo results for the tidal deformability, we analyse the phase transition between the baryonic and quark matter phases. We find that the baryon density $n_B$ at the transition is at least 2.9 times the nuclear saturation density $n_s$. The transition is of strongly first order at low and intermediate densities, i.e., for $n_B/n_s \lesssim 7.5$.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2019

Low-energy modes in anisotropic holographic fluids

In this work we will study the low-energy collective behavior of spatially anisotropic dense fluids in four spacetime dimensions. We will embed a massless flavor D7-brane probe in a generic geometry which has a metric possessing anisotropy in the spatial components. We work out generic formulas of the low-energy excitation spectra and two-point functions for charged excitations at finite baryon chemical potential. In addition, we specialize to a certain Lifshitz geometry and discuss in great detail the scaling behavior of several different quantities.

hep-th↗

arXiv2019

Information flows in strongly coupled ABJM theory

We use holographic methods to characterize the RG flow of quantum information in a Chern-Simons theory coupled to massive fermions. First, we use entanglement entropy and mutual information between strips to derive the dimension of the RG-driving operator and a monotonic c-function. We then display a scaling regime where, unlike in a CFT, the mutual information between strips changes non-monotonically with strip width, vanishing in both IR and UV but rising to a maximum at intermediate scales. The associated information transitions also contribute to non-monotonicity in the conditional mutual information which characterizes the independence of neighboring strips after conditioning on a third. Finally, we construct a measure of extensivity which tests to what extent information that region A shares with regions B and C is additive. In general, mutual information is super-extensive in holographic theories, and we might expect super-extensivity to be maximized in CFTs since they are scale-free. Surprisingly, our massive theory is more super-extensive than a CFT in a range of scales near the UV limit, although it is less super-extensive than a CFT at all lower scales. Our analysis requires the full ten-dimensional dual gravity background, and the extremal surfaces computing entanglement entropy explore all of these dimensions.

hep-th↗

arXiv2019

Gravity dual of a multilayer system

We construct a gravity dual to a system with multiple (2+1)-dimensional layers in a (3+1)-dimensional ambient theory. Following a top-down approach, we generate a geometry corresponding to the intersection of D3- and D5-branes along 2+1 dimensions. The D5-branes create a codimension one defect in the worldvolume of the D3-branes and are homogeneously distributed along the directions orthogonal to the defect. We solve the fully backreacted ten-dimensional supergravity equations of motion with smeared D5-brane sources. The solution is supersymmetric, has an intrinsic mass scale, and exhibits anisotropy at short distances in the gauge theory directions. We illustrate the running behavior in several observables, such as Wilson loops, entanglement entropy, and within thermodynamics of probe branes.

hep-th↗

arXiv2018

Holographic compact stars meet gravitational wave constraints

We investigate a simple holographic model for cold and dense deconfined QCD matter consisting of three quark flavors. Varying the single free parameter of the model and utilizing a Chiral Effective Theory equation of state (EoS) for nuclear matter, we find four different compact star solutions: traditional neutron stars, strange quark stars, as well as two non-standard solutions we refer to as hybrid stars of the second and third kind (HS2 and HS3). The HS2s are composed of a nuclear matter core and a crust made of stable strange quark matter, while the HS3s have both a quark mantle and a nuclear crust on top of a nuclear matter core. For all types of stars constructed, we determine not only their mass-radius relations, but also tidal deformabilities, Love numbers, as well as moments of inertia and the mass distribution. We find that there exists a range of parameter values in our model, for which the novel hybrid stars have properties in very good agreement with all existing bounds on the stationary properties of compact stars. In particular, the tidal deformabilities of these solutions are smaller than those of ordinary neutron stars of the same mass, implying that they provide an excellent fit to the recent gravitational wave data GW170817 of LIGO and Virgo. The assumptions underlying the viability of the different star types, in particular those corresponding to absolutely stable quark matter, are finally discussed at some length.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2018

Incoherent conductivity of holographic charge density waves

The DC resistivity of charge density waves weakly-pinned by disorder is controlled by diffusive, incoherent processes rather than slow momentum relaxation. The corresponding incoherent conductivity can be computed in the limit of zero disorder. We compute this transport coefficient in holographic spatially modulated breaking translations spontaneously. As a by-product of our analysis, we clarify how the boundary heat current is obtained from a conserved bulk current, defined as a suitable generalization of the Iyer-Wald Noether current of the appropriate Killing vector.

hep-th↗

arXiv2018

Non-commutative massive unquenched ABJM

In this paper we study non-commutative massive unquenched Chern-Simons matter theory using its gravity dual. We construct this novel background by applying a TsT-transformation on the known parent commutative solution. We discuss several aspects of this solution to the Type IIA supergravity equations of motion and, amongst others, check that it preserves ${\cal N}=1$ supersymmetry. We then turn our attention to applications and investigate how dynamical flavor degrees of freedom affect numerous observables of interest. Our framework can be regarded as a key step towards the construction of holographic quantum Hall states on a non-commutative plane.

hep-th↗

arXiv2017

Holographic pinning

In a holographic probe-brane model exhibiting a spontaneously spatially modulated ground state, we introduce explicit sources of symmetry breaking in the form of ionic and antiferromagnetic lattices. For the first time in a holographic model, we demonstrate pinning, in which the translational Goldstone mode is lifted by the introduction of explicit sources of translational symmetry breaking. The numerically computed optical conductivity fits very well to a Drude-Lorentz model with a small residual metallicity, precisely matching analytic formulas for the DC conductivity. We also find an instability of the striped phase in the presence of a large-amplitude ionic lattice.

hep-th↗

arXiv2017

Stiff phases in strongly coupled gauge theories with holographic duals

According to common lore, Equations of State of field theories with gravity duals tend to be soft, with speeds of sound either below or around the conformal value of $v_s=1/\sqrt{3}$. This has important consequences in particular for the physics of compact stars, where the detection of two solar mass neutron stars has been shown to require very stiff equations of state. In this paper, we show that no speed limit exists for holographic models at finite density, explicitly constructing examples where the speed of sound becomes arbitrarily close to that of light. This opens up the possibility of building hybrid stars that contain quark matter obeying a holographic equation of state in their cores.

hep-th↗

arXiv2017

Striped anyonic fluids

The choice of statistics for a quantum particle is almost always a discrete one: either bosonic or fermionic. Anyons are the exceptional case for which the statistics can take a range of intermediate values. Holography provides an opportunity to address the question of how the behavior of interacting anyons depends on the choice of statistics. In this paper, we analyze the spectrum of a strongly coupled, gapless fluid of anyons described holographically by the D3-D7' model with alternative boundary conditions. We investigate how these alternative boundary conditions impact the instability of the gapless homogeneous phase toward the formation of spatial order. In addition, we also show that for a particular, limiting choice of the alternative boundary conditions, this holographic system can be interpreted as describing strongly coupled (2+1)-dimensional QED. In this case, the instability leads to a spontaneous, spatially modulated magnetic field.

hep-th↗

arXiv2017

Holographic sliding stripes

Holographic models provide unique laboratories to investigate non-linear physics of transport in inhomogeneous systems. We provide a detailed account of both DC and AC conductivities in a defect CFT with spontaneous stripe order. The spatial symmetry is broken at large chemical potential and the resulting ground state is a combination of a spin and charge density wave. An infinitesimal applied electric field across the stripes will cause the stripes to slide over the underlying density of smeared impurities, a phenomenon which can be associated with the Goldstone mode for the spontaneously broken translation symmetry. We show that the presence of a spatially modulated background magnetization current thwarts the expression of some DC conductivities in terms of horizon data.

hep-th↗

arXiv2017

Non-relativistic anyons from holography

We study generic types of holographic matter residing in Lifshitz invariant defect field theory as modeled by adding probe D-branes in the bulk black hole spacetime characterized by dynamical exponent $z$ and with hyperscaling violation exponent $θ$. Our main focus will be on the collective excitations of the dense matter in the presence of an external magnetic field. Constraining the defect field theory to 2+1 dimensions, we will also allow the gauge fields become dynamical and study the properties of a strongly coupled anyonic fluid. We will deduce the universal properties of holographic matter and find that the Einstein relation always holds.

hep-th↗

arXiv2016

Breaking the sound barrier in AdS/CFT

It has been conjectured that the speed of sound in holographic models with UV fixed points has an upper bound set by the value of the quantity in conformal field theory. If true, this would set stringent constraints for the presence of strongly coupled quark matter in the cores of physical neutron stars, as the existence of two-solar-mass stars appears to demand a very stiff Equation of State. In this article, we present a family of counterexamples to the speed of sound conjecture, consisting of strongly coupled theories at finite density. The theories we consider include ${\cal N}=4$ super Yang-Mills at finite R-charge density and non-zero gaugino masses, while the holographic duals are Einstein-Maxwell theories with a minimally coupled scalar in a charged black hole geometry. We show that for a small breaking of conformal invariance, the speed of sound approaches the conformal value from above at large chemical potentials.

hep-th↗

arXiv2016

Holographic quark matter and neutron stars

We use a top-down holographic model for strongly interacting quark matter to study the properties of neutron stars. When the corresponding Equation of State (EoS) is matched with state-of-the-art results for dense nuclear matter, we consistently observe a first order phase transition at densities between two and seven times the nuclear saturation density. Solving the Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkov equations with the resulting hybrid EoSs, we find maximal stellar masses in the excess of two solar masses, albeit somewhat smaller than those obtained with simple extrapolations of the nuclear matter EoSs. Our calculation predicts that no quark matter exists inside neutron stars.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2016

Holographic anyonization: A systematic approach

Anyons have garnered substantial interest theoretically as well as experimentally. Due to the intricate nature of their interactions, however, even basic notions such as the equation of state for any kind of anyon gas have eluded a profound understanding so far. Using holography as a guiding principle, we propose a general method for an alternative quantization of electromagnetic degrees of freedom in the gravitational dual to obtain an effective physical description of strongly correlated anyonic systems. We then demonstrate the application of this prescription in a toy model of an anyonic fluid at finite charge density and magnetic field, dual to a dyonic black brane in AdS_4, and compute the equation of state and various transport coefficients explicitly.

hep-th↗

arXiv2016

Quantum phase transitions with dynamical flavors

We study the properties of a D6-brane probe in the ABJM background with smeared massless dynamical quarks in the Veneziano limit. Working at zero temperature and non-vanishing charge density, we show that the system undergoes a quantum phase transition in which the topology of the brane embedding changes from a black hole to a Minkowski embedding. In the unflavored background the phase transition is of second order and takes place when the charge density vanishes. We determine the corresponding critical exponents and show that the scaling behavior near the quantum critical point has multiplicative logarithmic corrections. In the background with dynamical quarks the phase transition is of first order and occurs at non-zero charge density. In this case we compute the discontinuity of several physical quantities as functions of the number $N_f$ of unquenched quarks of the background.

hep-th↗

arXiv2016

Collective excitations of massive flavor branes

We study the intersections of two sets of D-branes of different dimensionalities. This configuration is dual to a supersymmetric gauge theory with flavor hypermultiplets in the fundamental representation of the gauge group which live on the defect of the unflavored theory determined by the directions common to the two types of branes. One set of branes is dual to the color degrees of freedom, while the other set adds flavor to the system. We work in the quenched approximation, i.e., where the flavor branes are considered as probes, and focus specifically on the case in which the quarks are massive. We study the thermodynamics and the speeds of first and zero sound at zero temperature and non-vanishing chemical potential. We show that the system undergoes a quantum phase transition when the chemical potential approaches its minimal value and we obtain the corresponding non-relativistic critical exponents that characterize its critical behavior. In the case of (2+1)-dimensional intersections, we further study alternative quantization and the zero sound of the resulting anyonic fluid. We finally extend these results to non-zero temperature and magnetic field and compute the diffusion constant in the hydrodynamic regime. The numerical results we find match the predictions by the Einstein relation.

hep-th↗