Excitations in holographic quantum liquids

Thesis

In this thesis we review the gauge/gravity duality and how it can be used to compute the thermodynamic properties and low-energy excitations of holographic quantum liquids - strongly-interacting field theories with a non-zero density of matter. We then study in detail the charge density excitations of two such liquids, the D3/D7 theory and the RN-AdS₄ theory, by computing the poles of their charge density Green's functions, and their charge density spectral functions. Although it is not a Landau Fermi liquid, the charge density excitations of the D3/D7 theory display many of the same properties as one, including a collisionless/hydrodynamic crossover as the temperature is increased. In contrast to this, the charge density (and energy density) excitations of the RN-AdS₄ theory do not share these properties but behave in a way that cannot be explained by Landau's theory of interacting fermionic quasiparticles. This is consistent with other results which indicate that this is not a Landau Fermi liquid.

Authors: Davison, R

• Publication date: 2012
• DOI: 10.5287/ora-zbzyv7boq
• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English
• Keywords: holography; AdS/CFT correspondence; strongly-coupled gauge theories; String theory; quantum field theory at finite temperature and density; gauge/gravity duality
• Subjects: Elementary particle theory; Condensed matter theory; Theoretical physics; Physics