Horizons, holography and condensed matter

TL;DR

This paper explores how holographic duality links gravitational theories in Anti-de Sitter space to condensed matter phenomena, highlighting emergent symmetries and phase distinctions relevant to low-temperature critical phases.

Contribution

It provides a unified perspective on holographic models of condensed matter, emphasizing emergent scaling symmetries and phase structures through gravitational duals.

Findings

Emergent scaling symmetry appears as an isometry in the near-horizon region.

Distinction between fractionalized and mesonic phases relates to the presence of a charge horizon.

Unified description of holographic superconductors, electron stars, and charged dilatonic spacetimes.

Abstract

The holographic correspondence creates an interface between classical gravitational physics and the dynamics of strongly interacting quantum field theories. This chapter will relate the physics of charged, asymptotically Anti-de Sitter spacetimes to the phenomenology of low temperature critical phases of condensed matter. Common essential features will characterise both the gravitational and field theoretic systems. Firstly, an emergent scaling symmetry at the lowest energy scales appears as an emergent isometry in the interior, `near horizon' regime of the spacetime. Secondly, the field theoretic distinction between fractionalized and mesonic phases appears as the presence or absence of a charge-carrying horizon in the spacetime. A perspective grounded in these two characteristics allows a unified presentation of `holographic superconductors', `electron stars' and `charged dilatonic spacetimes'.