Holographic chiral magnetic spiral

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates the existence of a chiral magnetic spiral phase in holographic QCD at strong coupling, especially for large axial chemical potentials, contrasting with previous homogeneous current phases.

Contribution

It provides the first holographic proof of the chiral magnetic spiral phase in the strong coupling regime for large axial chemical potentials.

Findings

Chiral magnetic spiral exists at strong coupling for large axial chemical potentials.

No evidence of the spiral phase with purely baryonic chemical potential.

Supports the idea that anomalies influence phase structure in holographic QCD.

Abstract

We study the ground state of baryonic/axial matter at zero temperature chiral-symmetry broken phase under a large magnetic field, in the framework of holographic QCD by Sakai-Sugimoto. Our study is motivated by a recent proposal of chiral magnetic spiral phase that has been argued to be favored against previously studied phase of homogeneous distribution of axial/baryonic currents in terms of meson super-currents dictated by triangle anomalies in QCD. Our results provide an existence proof of chiral magnetic spiral in strong coupling regime via holography, at least for large axial chemical potentials, whereas we don't find the phenomenon in the case of purely baryonic chemical potential.