Holographic Metal-Insulator Transition in Higher Derivative Gravity

TL;DR

This paper introduces a higher derivative gravity model with Weyl corrections that demonstrates holographic metal-insulator transitions and uses entanglement entropy derivatives to identify quantum critical points.

Contribution

It is the first to realize holographic metal-insulator transitions in higher derivative gravity frameworks and links entanglement entropy behavior to quantum phase transitions.

Findings

First holographic MIT in higher derivative gravity models.

Second derivative of HEE peaks near quantum critical points.

Supports conjecture that HEE derivatives diagnose QPTs.

Abstract

We introduce a Weyl term into the Einstein-Maxwell-Axion theory in four dimensional spacetime. Up to the first order of the Weyl coupling parameter $\gamma$, we construct charged black brane solutions without translational invariance in a perturbative manner. Among all the holographic frameworks involving higher derivative gravity, we are the first to obtain metal-insulator transitions (MIT) when varying the system parameters at zero temperature. Furthermore, we study the holographic entanglement entropy (HEE) of strip geometry in this model and find that the second order derivative of HEE with respect to the axion parameter exhibits maximization behavior near quantum critical points (QCPs) of MIT. It testifies the conjecture in 1502.03661 and 1604.04857 that HEE itself or its derivatives can be used to diagnose quantum phase transition (QPT).