Symmetry Breaking Phase Transitions in ABJM Theory with a Finite U(1) Chemical Potential

TL;DR

This paper investigates phase transitions in ABJM theory with finite U(1) chemical potential, revealing spontaneous symmetry breaking and critical behavior consistent with mean field theory in a holographic framework.

Contribution

It demonstrates the occurrence of symmetry-breaking phase transitions in ABJM theory with back-reacted gravity duals, including analytical and numerical analysis of critical exponents.

Findings

Phase transitions lead to spontaneous SU(4) R-symmetry breaking.

Critical exponents match mean field theory predictions.

Back-reaction effects are crucial for accurate phase transition analysis.

Abstract

We consider the U(1) charged sector of ABJM theory at finite temperature, which corresponds to the Reissner-Nordstrom AdS black hole in the dual type IIA supergravity description. Including back-reaction to the bulk geometry, we show that phase transitions occur to a broken phase where SU(4) R-symmetry of the field theory is broken spontaneously by the condensation of dimension one or two operators. We show both numerically and analytically that the relevant critical exponents for the dimension one operator agree precisely with those of mean field theory in the strongly coupled regime of the large N planar limit.