Holographic superfluid flows with a localized repulsive potential

TL;DR

This paper models superfluid flows with a localized repulsive potential using holography, revealing bifurcation behavior and analyzing fluctuation spectra, advancing understanding of superfluid dynamics under external potentials.

Contribution

It introduces a holographic framework for superfluid flows with localized potentials, analytically constructs solutions, and studies bifurcation and fluctuation spectra, which is novel in this context.

Findings

Two steady superfluid flow solutions exist at weak potential strength.

Solutions merge at a critical potential strength, indicating a saddle-node bifurcation.

Spectral functions of fluctuations show characteristic behavior near criticality.

Abstract

We investigate a holographic model of superfluid flows with an external repulsive potential. When the strength of the potential is sufficiently weak, we analytically construct two steady superfluid flow solutions. As the strength of the potential is increased, the two solutions merge into a single critical solution at a critical strength, and then disappear above the critical value, as predicted by a saddle-node bifurcation theory. We also analyze the spectral function of fluctuations around the solutions under a certain decoupling approximation.