Holographic striped phases

TL;DR

This paper explores new neutral pseudo-scalar instabilities in electrically charged AdS-Reissner-Nordström black branes, leading to spontaneous translational symmetry breaking and striped phases in dual 3D CFTs, especially within skew-whiffed $AdS_4\times SE_7$ solutions.

Contribution

It identifies a new class of instabilities involving neutral pseudo-scalars that induce striped phases, expanding understanding of phase transitions in holographic models.

Findings

Instabilities cause spontaneous translational symmetry breaking.

Striped phases occur at lower temperatures than superfluid instabilities.

Applicable to an infinite class of skew-whiffed $AdS_4\times SE_7$ solutions.

Abstract

We discuss new types of instabilities of D=4 electrically charged AdS-Reissner-Nordstr\"om black branes that involve neutral pseudo-scalars. The instabilities spontaneously break translational invariance and are associated with the dual three-dimensional CFTs, at finite temperature and fixed chemical potential with respect to a global abelian symmetry, acquiring striped phases. We show that such instabilities are present for the infinite class of skew-whiffed $AdS_4\times SE_7$ solutions of D=11 supergravity, albeit at a lower temperature than the known superfluid instabilities.