Confinement in Holographic Theories at Finite Theta
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arXiv
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| Format: | Preprint |
| Publié: |
2026
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| _version_ | 1866911672675860480 |
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| author | Mishra, Rashmish K. |
| author_facet | Mishra, Rashmish K. |
| contents | A strongly coupled confining gauge theory with a non-zero vacuum angle undergoing a deconfinement to confinement phase transition is studied in the holographic gravitational description. A simplified five-dimensional setup is constructed where a bulk scalar models the effect of the vacuum angle, and the suitable boundary conditions on the ultra-violet (UV) and the infra-red (IR) boundaries are identified. The IR boundary condition is motivated by higher dimensional examples where the bulk scalar comes from a Wilson loop on a shrinking cycle. In this five-dimensional dual geometry, and in the limit of small backreaction in the infra-red, the critical temperature for the phase transition is shown to reduce quadratically with the vacuum angle, matching lattice results. The topological susceptibility has a sharp reduction across the critical temperature, also matching lattice results. The rate for the phase transition is estimated as a function of the vacuum angle, and is seen to be enhanced (reduced) when the field theory has a relevant (irrelevant) deformation at high energies. Crucially, for the irrelevant case, the confined phase can get destabilized for a range of parameters. In the context of early universe dynamics, if the vacuum angle is time-dependent, the transition history changes strongly: the deconfined phase can last till much lower temperatures than naively expected, and one can trigger a transition to the confined phase by a change in the vacuum angle, thus providing a controlled way to generate supercooling. As a phenomenological application, the peak frequency and the power of resulting gravitational wave signal from bubble collisions change, affecting their visibility in detectors. Possible generalizations of the scenario are discussed. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2603_24732 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Confinement in Holographic Theories at Finite Theta Mishra, Rashmish K. High Energy Physics - Theory High Energy Physics - Lattice High Energy Physics - Phenomenology A strongly coupled confining gauge theory with a non-zero vacuum angle undergoing a deconfinement to confinement phase transition is studied in the holographic gravitational description. A simplified five-dimensional setup is constructed where a bulk scalar models the effect of the vacuum angle, and the suitable boundary conditions on the ultra-violet (UV) and the infra-red (IR) boundaries are identified. The IR boundary condition is motivated by higher dimensional examples where the bulk scalar comes from a Wilson loop on a shrinking cycle. In this five-dimensional dual geometry, and in the limit of small backreaction in the infra-red, the critical temperature for the phase transition is shown to reduce quadratically with the vacuum angle, matching lattice results. The topological susceptibility has a sharp reduction across the critical temperature, also matching lattice results. The rate for the phase transition is estimated as a function of the vacuum angle, and is seen to be enhanced (reduced) when the field theory has a relevant (irrelevant) deformation at high energies. Crucially, for the irrelevant case, the confined phase can get destabilized for a range of parameters. In the context of early universe dynamics, if the vacuum angle is time-dependent, the transition history changes strongly: the deconfined phase can last till much lower temperatures than naively expected, and one can trigger a transition to the confined phase by a change in the vacuum angle, thus providing a controlled way to generate supercooling. As a phenomenological application, the peak frequency and the power of resulting gravitational wave signal from bubble collisions change, affecting their visibility in detectors. Possible generalizations of the scenario are discussed. |
| title | Confinement in Holographic Theories at Finite Theta |
| topic | High Energy Physics - Theory High Energy Physics - Lattice High Energy Physics - Phenomenology |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.24732 |