Toby Wiseman

Holographic superconductivity in M theory.

Using seven-dimensional Sasaki-Einstein spaces we construct solutions of D=11 supergravity that are holographically dual to superconductors in three spacetime dimensions. Our numerical results indicate a new zero temperature solution dual to a quantum critical point.

Static axisymmetric vacuum solutions and non-uniform black strings

We describe new numerical methods to solve the static axisymmetric vacuum Einstein equations in more than four dimensions. As an illustration, we study the compactified non-uniform black string phase connected to the uniform strings at the Gregory–Laflamme critical point. We compute solutions with a ratio of maximum to minimum horizon radius of up to nine. For a fixed compactification radius, the mass of these solutions is larger than the mass of the classically unstable uniform strings. Thus they cannot be the end state of the instability.

Quantum criticality and holographic superconductors in M-theory

We present a consistent Kaluza-Klein truncation of D = 11 supergravity on an arbitrary seven-dimensional Sasaki-Einstein space (SE7) to a D = 4 theory containing a metric, a gauge-field, a complex scalar field and a real scalar field. We use this D = 4 theory to construct various black hole solutions that describe the thermodynamics of the d = 3 CFTs dual to skew-whiffed AdS4 × SE7 solutions. We show that these CFTs have a rich phase diagram, including holographic superconductivity with, generically, broken parity and time reversal invariance. At zero temperature the superconducting solutions are charged domain walls with a universal emergent conformal symmetry in the far infrared.

A new approach to static numerical relativity and its application to Kaluza–Klein black holes

We propose a framework for solving the Einstein equation for static and Euclidean metrics. First, we address the issue of gauge-fixing by borrowing from the Ricci-flow literature the so-called DeTurck trick, which renders the Einstein equation strictly elliptic and generalizes the usual harmonic-coordinate gauge. We then study two algorithms, Ricci-flow and Newtons method, for solving the resulting Einstein–DeTurck equation. We illustrate the use of these methods by studying localized black holes and non-uniform black strings in five-dimensional Kaluza–Klein theory, improving on previous calculations of their thermodynamic and geometric properties. We study spectra of various operators for these solutions, in particular finding the negative modes of the Lichnerowicz operator. We classify the localized solutions into two branches that meet at a minimum temperature. We find good evidence for a merger between the localized and non-uniform solutions. We also find a narrow window of localized solutions that possess negative modes yet have positive specific heat.

Plasma balls in large-N gauge theories and localized black holes

We argue for the existence of plasma balls-metastable, nearly homogeneous lumps of gluon plasma at just above the deconfinement energy density-in a class of large-N confining gauge theories that undergo first-order deconfinement transitions. Plasma balls decay over a time scale of order N 2 by thermally radiating hadrons at the deconfinement temperature. In gauge theories that have a dual description that is well approximated by a theory of gravity in a warped geometry, we propose that plasma balls map to a family of classically stable finite-energy black holes localized in the IR. We present a conjecture for the qualitative nature of large-mass black holes in such backgrounds and numerically construct these black holes in a particular class of warped geometries. These black holes have novel properties; in particular, their temperature approaches a nonzero constant value at large mass. Black holes dual to plasma balls shrink as they decay by Hawking radiation; towards the end of this process, they resemble ten-dimensional Schwarzschild black holes, which we propose are dual to small plasma balls. Our work may find practical applications in the study of the physics of localized black holes from a dual viewpoint.

Connecting black holes and black strings

Static vacuum spacetimes with one compact dimension include black holes with localized horizons but also uniform and nonuniform black strings where the horizon wraps over the compact dimension. We present new numerical solutions for these localized black holes in 5 and 6 dimensions. Combined with previous 6D nonuniform string results, these provide evidence that the black hole and nonuniform string branches join at a topology changing solution.

The phase structure of low dimensional large N gauge theories on tori

In this paper we continue our study of the thermodynamics of large N gauge theories on compact spaces. We consider toroidal compactifications of pure SU(N) Yang-Mills theories and of maximally supersymmetric Yang-Mills theories dimensionally reduced to 0+1 or 1+1 dimensions, and generalizations of such theories where the adjoint fields are massive. We describe the phase structure of these theories as a function of the gauge coupling, the geometry of the compact space and the mass parameters. In particular, we study the behavior of order parameters associated with the holonomy of the gauge field around the cycles of the torus. Our methods combine analytic analysis, numerical Monte Carlo simulations, and (in the maximally supersymmetric case) information from the dual gravitational theories.

Ricci solitons, Ricci flow, and strongly coupled CFT in the Schwarzschild Unruh or Boulware vacua

The elliptic Einstein–DeTurck equation may be used to numerically find Einstein metrics on Riemannian manifolds. Static Lorentzian Einstein metrics are considered by analytically continuing to Euclidean time. The Ricci–DeTurck flow is a constructive algorithm to solve this equation, and is simple to implement when the solution is a stable fixed point, the only complication being that Ricci solitons may exist which are not Einstein. Here we extend previous work to consider the Einstein–DeTurck equation for Riemannian manifolds with boundaries, and those that continue to static Lorentzian spacetimes which are asymptotically flat, Kaluza–Klein, locally AdS or have extremal horizons. Using a maximum principle, we prove that Ricci solitons do not exist in these cases and so any solution is Einstein. We also argue that the Ricci–DeTurck flow preserves these classes of manifolds. As an example, we simulate the Ricci–DeTurck flow for a manifold with asymptotics relevant for AdS5/CFT4. Our maximum principle dictates that there are no soliton solutions, and we give strong numerical evidence that there exists a stable fixed point of the flow which continues to a smooth static Lorentzian Einstein metric. Our asymptotics are such that this describes the classical gravity dual relevant for the CFT on a Schwarzschild background in either the Unruh or Boulware vacua. It determines the leading O(N2c) part of the CFT stress tensor, which interestingly is regular on both the future and past Schwarzschild horizons.

Holographic superfluids and the dynamics of symmetry breaking.

We explore the far-from-equilibrium response of a holographic superfluid using the AdS/CFT correspondence. We establish the dynamical phase diagram corresponding to quantum quenches of the order parameter source field. We find three distinct regimes of behavior that are related to the spectrum of black hole quasinormal modes. These correspond to damped oscillations of the order parameter and to overdamped approaches to the superfluid and normal states. The presence of three regimes, which includes an emergent dynamical temperature scale, is argued to occur more generally in time-reversal-invariant systems that display continuous symmetry breaking.

Extracting black hole physics from the lattice

We perform lattice simulations of N D0-branes at finite temperature in the decoupling limit, namely 16 supercharge SU(N) Yang-Mills quantum mechanics in the ’t Hooft limit. At low temperature this theory is conjectured to be dual to certain supergravity black holes. We emphasize that the existence of a non-compact moduli space renders the partition function of the quantum mechanics theory divergent, and we perform one loop calculations that demonstrate this explicitly. In consequence we use a scalar mass term to regulate this divergence and argue that the dual black hole thermodynamics may be recovered in the appropriate large N limit as the regulator is removed. We report on simulations for N up to 5 including the Pfaffian phase, and N up to 12 in the phase quenched approximation. Interestingly, in the former case, where we may calculate this potentially difficult phase, we find that it appears to play little role dynamically over the temperature range tested, which is certainly encouraging for future simulations of this theory.