arXiv subjects

Pallab Basu

Publications and source records attributed to Pallab Basu.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2015

$ε$-Expansions Near Three Dimensions from Conformal Field Theory

We formally extend the CFT techniques introduced in arXiv:1505.00963, to $ϕ^{\frac{2d_0}{d_0-2}}$ theory in $d=d_0-ε$ dimensions and use it to compute anomalous dimensions near $d_0=3, 4$ in a unified manner. We also do a similar analysis of the $O(N)$ model in three dimensions by developing a recursive combinatorial approach for OPE contractions. Our results match precisely with low loop perturbative computations. Finally, using 3-point correlators in the CFT, we comment on why the $ϕ^3$ theory in $d_0=6$ is qualitatively different.

hep-th↗

arXiv2015

AdS (In)stability: Lessons From The Scalar Field

We argued in arXiv:1408.0624 that the quartic scalar field in AdS has features that could be instructive for answering the gravitational stability question of AdS. Indeed, the conserved charges identified there have recently been observed in the full gravity theory as well. In this paper, we continue our investigation of the scalar field in AdS and provide evidence that in the Two-Time Formalism (TTF), even for initial conditions that are far from quasi-periodicity, the energy in the higher modes at late times is exponentially suppressed in the mode number. Based on this and some related observations, we argue that there is no thermalization in the scalar TTF model within time-scales that go as $\sim 1/ε^2$, where $ε$ measures the initial amplitude (with only low-lying modes excited). It is tempting to speculate that the result holds also for AdS collapse.

hep-th↗

arXiv2014

Complex Dynamics of the Difference Equation $z_{n+1}=\fracα{z_{n}}+ \fracβ{z_{n-1}}$

The dynamics of the second order rational difference equation in the title with complex parameters and arbitrary complex initial conditions is investigated. Two associated difference equations are also studied. The solutions in the complex plane of such equations exhibit many rich and complicated asymptotic behavior. The analysis of the local stability of these three difference equations and periodicity have been carried out. We further exhibit several interesting characteristics of the solutions of this equation, using computations, which does not arise when we consider the same equation with positive real parameters and initial conditions. Many interesting observations led us to pose several open problems and conjectures of paramount importance regarding chaotic and higher order periodic solutions and global asymptotic convergence of such difference equations. It is our hope that these observations of these complex difference equations would certainly be new add-ons to the present art of research in rational difference equations in understanding the behavior in the complex domain.

math.DS↗

arXiv2014

Holographic quantum phase transitions and interacting bulk scalars

We consider a system of two massive, mutually interacting probe real scalar fields, in zero temperature holographic backgrounds. The system does not have any continuous symmetry. For a suitable range of the interaction parameters adhering to the interaction potential between the bulk scalars, we have shown that as one turns on the source for one scalar field, the system may go through a second order quantum critical phase transition across which the second scalar field forms a condensate. We have looked at the resulting phase diagram and numerically computed the condensate. We have also investigated our system in two different backgrounds: $AdS_4$ and $AdS$ soliton, and got similar phase structure.

hep-th↗

arXiv2014

A Stochasticity Threshold in Holography and and the Instability of AdS

We give strong numerical evidence that a self-interacting probe scalar field in AdS, with only a few modes turned on initially, will undergo fast thermalization only if it is above a certain energetic threshold. Below the threshold the energy stays close to constant in a few modes for a very long time instead of cascading quickly. This indicates the existance of a Strong Stochasticity Threshold (SST) in holography. The idea of SST is familiar from certain statistical mechanical systems, and we suggest that it exists also in AdS gravity. This would naturally reconcile the generic non-linear instability of AdS observed by Bizon and Rostworowski, with the Fermi-Pasta-Ulam-Tsingou-like quasi-periodocity noticed recently for some classes of initial conditions. We show that our simple set-up captures many of the relevant features of the full gravity-scalar system.

hep-th↗

arXiv2014

Confining Backgrounds and Quantum Chaos in Holography

Classical world-sheet string theory has recently been shown to be nonintegrable and chaotic in various confining string theory backgrounds -- the AdS soliton background in particular. In this paper we study a minisuperspace quantization of the theory and look at properties of the spectrum like the distribution of level spacing, which are indicative of quantum order or chaos. In the quantum spectrum we find a gradual transition from chaotic (Wigner GOE) to integrable (Poisson) regime as we look at higher energies. This is expected since our system is integrable asymptotically, and at higher energies, the dynamics is entirely dominated by the kinetic terms.

hep-th↗

arXiv2014

Dissipative Nonlinear Dynamics in Holography

We look at the response of a nonlinearly coupled scalar field in an asymptotically AdS black brane geometry and find a behavior very similar to that of known dissipative nonlinear systems like the chaotic pendulum. Transition to chaos proceeds through a series of period-doubling bifurcations. The presence of dissipation, crucial to this behavior, arises naturally in a black hole background from the ingoing conditions imposed at the horizon. AdS/CFT translates our solution to a chaotic response of the operator dual to the scalar field. Our setup can also be used to study quenchlike behavior in strongly coupled nonlinear systems.

hep-th↗

arXiv2013

Quantum Quench and Double Trace Couplings

We consider quantum quench by a time dependent double trace coupling in a strongly coupled large N field theory which has a gravity dual via the AdS/CFT correspondence. The bulk theory contains a self coupled neutral scalar field coupled to gravity with negative cosmological constant. We study the scalar dynamics in the probe approximation in two backgrounds: AdS soliton and AdS black brane. In either case we find that in equilibrium there is a critical phase transition at a {\em negative} value of the double trace coupling $κ$ below which the scalar condenses. For a slowly varying homogeneous time dependent coupling crossing the critical point, we show that the dynamics in the critical region is dominated by a single mode of the bulk field. This mode satisfies a Landau-Ginsburg equation with a time dependent mass, and leads to Kibble Zurek type scaling behavior. For the AdS soliton the system is non-dissipative and has $z=1$, while for the black brane one has dissipative $z=2$ dynamics. We also discuss the features of a holographic model which would describe the non-equilibrium dynamics around quantum critical points with arbitrary dynamical critical exponent $z$ and correlation length exponent $ν$. These analytical results are supported by direct numerical solutions.

hep-th↗

arXiv2012

Quantum Quench Across a Zero Temperature Holographic Superfluid Transition

We study quantum quench in a holographic model of a zero temperature insulator-superfluid transition. The model is a modification of that of arXiv:0911.0962 and involves a self-coupled complex scalar field, Einstein gravity with a negative cosmological constant, and Maxwell field with one of the spatial directions compact. In a suitable regime of parameters, the scalar field can be treated as a probe field whose backreaction to both the metric and the gauge field can be ignored. We show that when the chemical potential of the dual field theory lies between two critical values, the equilibrium background geometry is a AdS soliton with a constant gauge field, while the complex scalar condenses leading to broken symmetry. We then turn on a time dependent source for the order parameter which interpolates between constant values and crosses the order-disorder critical point. In the critical region adiabaticity breaks down, but for a small rate of change of the source $v$ there is a new small-$v$ expansion in fractional powers of $v$. The resulting critical dynamics is dominated by a zero mode of the bulk field. To lowest order in this small-$v$ expansion, the order parameter satisfies a time dependent Landau-Ginsburg equation which has $z=2$, but non-dissipative. These predictions are verified by explicit numerical solutions of the bulk equations of motion.

hep-th↗

arXiv2012

Chaos around Holographic Regge Trajectories

Using methods of Hamiltonian dynamical systems, we show analytically that a dynamical system connected to the classical spinning string solution holographically dual to the principal Regge trajectory is non-integrable. The Regge trajectories themselves form an integrable island in the total phase space of the dynamical system. Our argument applies to any gravity background dual to confining field theories and we verify it explicitly in various supergravity backgrounds: Klebanov-Strassler, Maldacena-Nunez, Witten QCD and the AdS soliton. Having established non-integrability for this general class of supergravity backgrounds, we show explicitly by direct computation of the Poincare sections and the largest Lyapunov exponent, that such strings have chaotic motion.

hep-th↗

arXiv2012

Analytic Approaches to anisotropic Holographic Superfluids

We construct an analytic solution of the Einstein-SU(2)-Yang-Mills system as the holographic dual of an anisotropic superfluid near its critical point, up to leading corrections in both the inverse Yang-Mills coupling and a symmetry breaking order parameter. We have also calculated the ratio of shear viscosity to entropy density in this background, and shown that the universality of this ratio is lost in the broken symmetry direction. The ratio displays a scaling behavior near the critical point with critical exponent $β=1$, at the leading order in the double expansion.

hep-th↗

arXiv2011

Quantum Quench across a Holographic Critical Point

We study the problem of quantum quench across a critical point in a strongly coupled field theory using AdS/CFT techniques. The model involves a probe neutral scalar field with mass-squared $m^2$ in the range $-9/4 < m^2 < -3/2$ in a $AdS_4$ charged black brane background. For a given brane background there is a critical mass-squared, $m_c^2$ such that for $m^2 < m_c^2$ the scalar field condenses. The theory is critical when $m^2 = m_c^2$ and the source for the dual operator vanishes. At the critical point, the radial operator for the bulk linearized problem has a zero mode. We study the dynamics of the order parameter with a time dependent source $J(t)$, or a null-time dependent bulk mass $m(u)$ across the critical point. We show that in the critical region the dynamics for an initially slow variation is dominated by the zero mode : this leads to an effective description in terms of a Landau-Ginsburg type dynamics with a {\em linear} time derivative. Starting with an adiabatic initial condition in the ordered phase, we find that the order parameter drops to zero at a time $t_\star$ which is later than the time when $(m_c^2-m^2)$ or $J$ hits zero. In the critical region, $t_\star$, and the departure of the order parameter from its adiabatic value, scale with the rate of change, with exponents determined by static critical behavior. Numerical results for the order parameter are consistent with these expectations.

hep-th↗

arXiv2011

Low temperature properties of holographic condensates

In the current work we study various models of holographic superconductors at low temperature. Generically the zero temperature limit of those models are solitonic solution with a zero sized horizon. Here we generalized simple version of those zero temperature solutions to small but non-zero temperature T. We confine ourselves to cases where near horizon geometry is AdS^4. At a non-zero temperature a small horizon would form deep inside this AdS^4 which does not disturb the UV physics. The resulting geometry may be matched with the zero temperature solution at an intermediate length scale. We understand this matching from separation of scales by setting up a perturbative expansion in gauge potential. We have a better analytic control in abelian case and quantities may be expressed in terms of hypergeometric function. From this we calculate low temperature behavior of various quatities like entropy, charge density and specific heat etc. We also calculate various energy gaps associated with p-wave holographic superconductor to understand the underlying pairing mechanism. The result deviates significantly from the corresponding weak coupling BCS counterpart.

hep-th↗

arXiv2011

Towards A Holographic Model of Color Superconductivity

In this note, we discuss the basic elements that should appear in a gravitational system dual to a confining gauge theory displaying color superconductivity at large baryon density. We consider a simple system with these minimal elements, and show that for a range of parameters, the phase structure of this model as a function of temperature and baryon chemical potential exhibits phases that can be identified with confined, deconfined, and color superconducting phases in the dual field theory. We find that the critical temperature at which the superconducting phase disappears is remarkably small (relative to the chemical potential). This small number arises from the dynamics, and is unrelated to any small parameter in the model that we study. We discuss similar models which exhibit flavor superconductivity.

hep-th↗

arXiv2011

Integrability Lost

It is known that classical string dynamics in pure AdS_5\times S^5 is integrable and plays an important role in solvability. This is a deep and central issue in holography. Here we investigate similar classical integrability for a more realistic confining background and provide a negative answer. The dynamics of a class of simple string configurations in AdS soliton background can be mapped to the dynamics of a set of non-linearly coupled oscillators. In a suitable limit of small fluctuations we discuss a quasi-periodic analytic solution of the system. However numerics indicates chaotic behavior as the fluctuations are not small. Integrability implies the existence of a regular foliation of the phase space by invariant manifolds. Our numerics shows how this nice foliation structure is eventually lost due to chaotic motion. We also verify a positive Lyapunov index for chaotic orbits. Our dynamics is roughly similar to other known non-integrable coupled oscillators systems like Henon-Heiles equations.

hep-th↗

arXiv2011

Analytic Non-integrability in String Theory

Using analytic techniques developed for Hamiltonian dynamical systems we show that a certain classical string configurations in AdS_5 x X_5 with X_5 in a large class of Einstein spaces, is non-integrable. This answers the question of integrability of string on such backgrounds in the negative. We consider a string localized in the center of AdS_5 that winds around two circles in the manifold X_5.

hep-th↗

arXiv2011

Chaos Rules out Integrability of Strings in AdS_5 x T^{1,1}

We show that certain classical string configurations in AdS_5 x T^{1,1} are chaotic. This answers the question of integrability of string on such backgrounds in the negative. We consider a string localized in the center of AdS_5 that winds around two circles of T^{1,1}. The corresponding dynamical system is equivalent to two coupled gravitational pendula and allows a very intuitive understanding. We find conclusive evidence of chaotic behavior by systematically analyzing the workings of the KAM theorem. We also show that the largest Lyapunov exponent is positive.

hep-th↗

arXiv2010

Competing Holographic Orders

We model competition between different macroscopic orders in an holographic context. The orders we considered are a superconducting order, modeled by a charged scalar field, and a magnetic order modeled by a neutral scalar field. We also discuss the case of two competing scalars coupled to a single gauge field. In all cases discussed here the phases tend to compete, rather than enhance each other. The condensation of one scalar hinders any further instabilities, unless we have a sufficiently strong repulsive interactions between the bulk scalars. We provide both analytic arguments and numerical demonstration of this fact. Based on the cases discussed here, we conjecture that holographic orders tend to compete for attractive bulk interactions, including gravity, and to cooperate, or be mutually enhancing, for repulsive bulk interactions between the corresponding order parameters.

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