Modulated instabilities and the AdS$_2$ point in dense holographic matter

TL;DR

This paper explores how flavor anomalies induce modulated instabilities in dense holographic QCD matter, revealing an extended unstable phase and analyzing the quantum critical AdS$_2$ point's signatures in quasinormal modes.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive classification of quasinormal modes in holographic QCD and uncovers the influence of flavor anomalies on instabilities at various densities and temperatures.

Findings

Flavor anomalies drive modulated instabilities at unexpectedly low densities.

Unstable phases extend to high temperatures near lattice data regions.

Signatures of the AdS$_2$ quantum critical point are identified in quasinormal mode spectra.

Abstract

We investigate fluctuations of hot and dense QCD plasma by using the gauge/gravity duality. To this end, we carry out a comprehensive classification and analysis of quasinormal modes of charged black holes in the holographic V-QCD model. It turns out that the Chern-Simons term determined by the flavor anomalies of QCD is strong enough to drive a modulated instability. While such an instability is expected at high densities, we find that the unstable phase extends to surprisingly low densities and high temperatures, close to the region where data from lattice simulations is available. We also analyze the limit of small temperature which is controlled by a quantum critical AdS$_2$ point. We study in detail the signatures of the critical point in the quasinormal mode spectrum, focusing on the interplay between the hydrodynamic modes and other modes.