New Horizons in the Holographic Conformal Phase Transition

TL;DR

This paper explores a novel, non-equilibrium cosmological approach to the holographic conformal phase transition, bypassing the limitations of the thermal transition and allowing for perturbative 5D gravity.

Contribution

It introduces an early universe scenario with relativistic brane motion and Rindler horizons, providing an alternative to thermal phase transition models in holography.

Findings

Non-equilibrium cosmology can complete the phase transition perturbatively.

Relativistic brane motion and Rindler horizons are key features of the model.

Certain initial conditions naturally lead to successful phase transition completion.

Abstract

We describe cosmological solutions of the holographic dilaton with the aim of exploring alternatives to the commonly studied thermal Randall-Sundrum phase transition. It is well known that the thermal transition is typically strongly first order, with the requirement of a perturbative 5D gravity theory obstructing completion of the transition. This thermal transition corresponds to nucleation of an infrared brane through the surface of an AdS-Schwarzschild horizon. The approach we study instead invokes an early epoch in which the cosmology is fully 5-dimensional, with highly relativistic brane motion, and with Rindler horizons obscuring the infrared brane at early times. Our approach corresponds, via AdS/CFT, to a non-equilibrium approach to the conformal phase transition. We comment on a class of initial conditions that generically leads to completion of the phase transition without sacrificing perturbativity of the 5D theory.