1202.5271 (Moshe Rozali et al.)

Holographic Higgs Phases    [PDF]

Moshe Rozali, Darren Smyth, Evgeny Sorkin

We discuss phases of gauge theories in the holographic context, and formulate
a criterion for the existence of a Higgs phase, where the gauge redundancy is
"spontaneously broken", in purely bulk language. This condition, the existence
of a finite tension solitonic string representing a narrow magnetic flux tube,
is necessary for a bulk theory to be interpreted as a Higgs phase of a boundary
gauge theory. We demonstrate the existence of such solitons in both top-down
and bottom-up examples of holographic theories. In particular, we numerically
construct new solitonic solutions in AdS black hole background, which are used
to demonstrate that the bulk theory models a superconductor, rather than a
superfluid. The criterion we find is expected to be useful in finding
holographic duals of color superconducting phases of gauge theories at finite
density.

View original: http://arxiv.org/abs/1202.5271