Anisotropic critical points from holography

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Giataganas, Dimitrios, Gürsoy, Umut, Moran, Claire, Pedraza, Juan F., Fernández, David Rodríguez
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Giataganas, Dimitrios
Gürsoy, Umut
Moran, Claire
Pedraza, Juan F.
Fernández, David Rodríguez
author_facet Giataganas, Dimitrios
Gürsoy, Umut
Moran, Claire
Pedraza, Juan F.
Fernández, David Rodríguez
contents We present a comprehensive analysis of generic 5-dimensional Einstein-Maxwell-Dilaton-Axion (EMDA) holographic theories with exponential couplings. We find and classify exact, analytic, anisotropic solutions, both zero-temperature vacua and finite-temperature black brane backgrounds, with anisotropy sourced by scalar axions, magnetic fields, and charge densities, that can be interpreted as IR fixed points of renormalisation-group flows from UV-conformal fixed points. The resulting backgrounds feature a hyperscaling violation exponent and up to three independent Lifshitz-like exponents, generated by an equal number of independent coupling constants in the EMDA action. We derive the holographic stress-energy tensor and the corresponding equation of state, and discuss the behavior of the anisotropic speed of sound and butterfly velocity. We show that these theories can be consistently constrained by imposing several natural requirements, including energy conditions, thermodynamic stability, and causality. Additionally, we analyse hard probes in this class of theories, including Brownian motion, momentum broadening and jet quenching, and we demonstrate that a fully analytic treatment is possible, making their dependence on the underlying anisotropy explicit. We highlight the relevance of these models as benchmarks for strongly coupled anisotropic matter in nature, from the quark-gluon plasma created in heavy-ion collisions to dense QCD phases in neutron-star mergers and the cores of compact objects.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2509_15021
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Anisotropic critical points from holography
Giataganas, Dimitrios
Gürsoy, Umut
Moran, Claire
Pedraza, Juan F.
Fernández, David Rodríguez
High Energy Physics - Theory
General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
We present a comprehensive analysis of generic 5-dimensional Einstein-Maxwell-Dilaton-Axion (EMDA) holographic theories with exponential couplings. We find and classify exact, analytic, anisotropic solutions, both zero-temperature vacua and finite-temperature black brane backgrounds, with anisotropy sourced by scalar axions, magnetic fields, and charge densities, that can be interpreted as IR fixed points of renormalisation-group flows from UV-conformal fixed points. The resulting backgrounds feature a hyperscaling violation exponent and up to three independent Lifshitz-like exponents, generated by an equal number of independent coupling constants in the EMDA action. We derive the holographic stress-energy tensor and the corresponding equation of state, and discuss the behavior of the anisotropic speed of sound and butterfly velocity. We show that these theories can be consistently constrained by imposing several natural requirements, including energy conditions, thermodynamic stability, and causality. Additionally, we analyse hard probes in this class of theories, including Brownian motion, momentum broadening and jet quenching, and we demonstrate that a fully analytic treatment is possible, making their dependence on the underlying anisotropy explicit. We highlight the relevance of these models as benchmarks for strongly coupled anisotropic matter in nature, from the quark-gluon plasma created in heavy-ion collisions to dense QCD phases in neutron-star mergers and the cores of compact objects.
title Anisotropic critical points from holography
topic High Energy Physics - Theory
General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.15021