Thermodynamics and DC conductivity of 2D anisotropic fluids from axion holography

TL;DR

This paper explores the thermodynamics and DC conductivity of a strongly coupled anisotropic fluid in 2+1 dimensions using holography, revealing stability, conductivity behavior, and a metal-insulator transition driven by anisotropy.

Contribution

It provides a holographic analysis of anisotropic fluids, showing thermodynamic stability, conductivity characteristics, and a metal-insulator transition due to anisotropy effects.

Findings

Thermodynamic properties match those of a conformal fluid despite anisotropy.

DC conductivity decreases with increasing anisotropy and vanishes at high anisotropy.

A metal-insulator transition is driven by anisotropy.

Abstract

We investigate a strongly coupled finite-density anisotropic fluid in $2+1$ dimensions dual to an asymptotically AdS black brane that is a solution of Einstein-Maxwell-Axion theory in $3+1$ dimensions. Despite the anisotropy, the fluid thermodynamic properties align with those of a conformal fluid. Moreover, we show that the fluid is stable under the increase of the anisotropy parameter. Additionally, we analyse the DC conductivity of the anisotropic fluid, showing its compatibility with momentum dissipation due to translational symmetry breaking. In the limit of very large anisotropy we find that the DC conductivity vanishes as a consequence of dimensionality reduction. We also find that a metal-insulator transition arises driven by the anisotropy.