Thermodynamics of Holographic Defects

TL;DR

This paper investigates the thermodynamic behavior and phase structure of matter fields on (2+1)-dimensional defects within a (3+1)-dimensional N=4 SYM heat bath using holographic duality, revealing unique defect-specific features.

Contribution

It provides a detailed holographic analysis of defect thermodynamics, highlighting novel defect-specific phenomena and phase behaviors under magnetic fields, density, and mass variations.

Findings

Identification of defect-specific magnetic properties.

Observation of negative heat capacity in certain phases.

Discovery of diverging susceptibility at small temperatures.

Abstract

Using the AdS/CFT correspondence, we study the thermodynamic properties and the phase diagram of matter fields on (2+1)-dimensional defects coupled to a (3+1)-dimensional N=4 SYM "heat bath". Considering a background magnetic field, (net) quark density, defect "magnitude" $\delta N_c$ and the mass of the matter, we study the defect contribution to the thermodynamic potentials and their first and second derivatives to map the phases and study their physical properties. We find some features that are qualitatively similar to other systems e.g. in (3+1) dimensions and a number of features that are particular to the defect nature, such as its magnetic properties, unexpected properties at T->0 and finite density; and the finite $\delta N_c$ effects, e.g. a diverging susceptibility and vanishing density of states at small temperatures, a physically consistent negative heat capacity and new types of consistent phases.