Holographic phase transitions at finite chemical potential

TL;DR

This paper explores holographic phase transitions in N=2 super-Yang-Mills theory at finite chemical potential, revealing a phase diagram with first order transitions and continuous phases depending on temperature and chemical potential.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of the phase diagram at finite chemical potential using holographic methods, extending previous studies to include baryon density effects.

Findings

First order phase transition line for mu < Nc Mq

No phase transition for mu > Nc Mq with always nonzero baryon density

Comparison between grand canonical and canonical ensembles

Abstract

Recently holographic techniques have been used to study the thermal properties of N=2 super-Yang-Mills theory, with gauge group SU(Nc) and coupled to Nf << Nc flavours of fundamental matter, at large Nc and large 't Hooft coupling. Here we consider the phase diagram as a function of temperature and baryon chemical potential mu. For fixed mu < Nc Mq there is a line of first order thermal phase transitions separating a region with vanishing baryon density and one with nonzero density. For fixed mu > Nc Mq there is no phase transition as a function of the temperature and the baryon density is always nonzero. We also compare the present results for the grand canonical ensemble with those for canonical ensemble in which the baryon density is held fixed [1].