We construct planar black hole solutions in AdS_3 and AdS_4 in which the boundary CFT is perturbed by marginally relevant quenched disorder. We show that the entropy density of the horizon has the scaling temperature dependence s \sim T^{(d-1)/z} (with d=2,3). The dynamical critical exponent z is computed numerically and, at weak disorder, analytically. These results lend support to the claim that the perturbed CFT flows to a disordered quantum critical theory in the IR.
We study renormalization group flows in strongly interacting field theories with fermions that correspond to transitions between a theory without Lorentz invariance at high energies down to a theory with approximate Lorentz symmetry in the infrared. Holographic description of the strong coupling is used. The emphasis is made on emergence of chiral fermions in the low-energy theory.
We explore the phenomenon of emergent Lorentz invariance in strongly coupled theories. The strong dynamics is handled using the gauge/gravity correspondence. We analyze how the renormalization group flow towards Lorentz invariance is reflected in the two-point functions of local operators and in the dispersion relations of the bound states. The deviations of these observables from the relativistic form at low energies are found to be power-law suppressed by the ratio of the infrared and ultraviolet scales. We show that in a certain subclass of models the velocities of the light bound states st…
We motivate the concept of emergent gauge symmetry and discuss ways that this concept can be tested. The key idea is that if a symmetry is emergent, one should look for small violations of this symmetry because the underlying fundamental theory does not contain the symmetry. We describe our recent work implementing this idea in the gravity sector. We also describe the reasons why violations of gauge symmetry may well be linked to violations of Lorentz invariance.
We define for quantum many-body systems a quasi-adiabatic continuation of quantum states. The continuation is valid when the Hamiltonian has a gap, or else has a sufficiently small low-energy density of states, and thus is away from a quantum phase transition. This continuation takes local operators into local operators, while approximately preserving the ground state expectation values. We apply this continuation to the problem of gauge theories coupled to matter, and propose a new distinction, perimeter law versus "zero law" to identify confinement. We also apply the continuation to local bo…
We relate structurally dynamic cellular networks, a class of models we developed in fundamental space-time physics, to SDCA, introduced some time ago by Ilachinski and Halpern. We emphasize the crucial property of a non-linear interaction of network geometry with the matter degrees of freedom in order to emulate the supposedly highly erratic and strongly fluctuating space-time structure on the Planck scale. We then embark on a detailed numerical analysis of various large scale characteristics of several classes of models in order to understand what will happen if some sort of macroscopic or co…
The ageing of the bond-disordered two-dimensional Ising model quenched to below its critical point is studied through the two-time autocorrelator and thermoremanent magnetization (TRM). The corresponding ageing exponents are determined. The form of the scaling function of the TRM is well described by the theory of local scale-invariance.
Dynamical scaling and ageing in disordered systems far from equilibrium is reviewed. Particular attention is devoted to the question to what extent a recently introduced generalization of dynamical scaling to local scale-invariance can describe data for either non-glassy systems quenched to below $T_c$ or else for spin glasses at criticality. The dependence of the scaling behaviour on the distribution of the random couplings is discussed. It is shown that finite-time corrections to scaling can become quite sizable in these systems. Numerically determined ageing quantities are confronted with a…
We discuss a novel explanation of the dark energy as a manifestation of macroscopic non-locality coming from quantum gravity, as proposed by Markopoulou. It has been previously suggested that in a transition from an early quantum geometric phase of the universe to a low temperature phase characterized by an emergent spacetime metric, locality might have been "disordered". This means that there is a mismatch of micro-locality, as determined by the microscopic quantum dynamics and macro-locality as determined by the classical metric that governs the emergent low energy physics. In this paper we …
Fractional quantum Hall (FQH) system at Landau level filling fraction $ν=5/2$ has long been suggested to be non-Abelian, either Pfaffian (Pf) or antiPfaffian (APf) states by numerical studies, both with quantized Hall conductance $σ_{xy}=5e^2/2h$. Thermal Hall conductances of the Pf and APf states are quantized at $κ_{xy}=7/2$ and $κ_{xy}=3/2$ respectively in a proper unit. However, a recent experiment shows the thermal Hall conductance of $ν=5/2$ FQH state is $κ_{xy}=5/2$. It has been speculated that the system contains random Pf and APf domains driven by disorders, and the neutral chiral Maj…
We argue that supersymmetry with its well known advantages, such as naturalness, grand unification and dark matter candidate seems to possess one more attractive feature: it may trigger, through its own spontaneous violation in the visible sector, a dynamical generation of gauge fields as massless Nambu-Goldstone modes during which physical Lorentz invariance itself is ultimately preserved. We consider the supersymmetric QED model extended by an arbitrary polynomial potential of massive vector superfield that breaks gauge invariance in the SUSY invariant phase. However, the requirement of vacu…
The two-dimensional case occupies a special position in the theory of critical phenomena due to the exact results provided by lattice solutions and, directly in the continuum, by the infinite-dimensional character of the conformal algebra. However, some sectors of the theory, and most notably criticality in systems with quenched disorder and short range interactions, have appeared out of reach of exact methods and lacked the insight coming from analytical solutions. In this article we review recent progress achieved implementing conformal invariance within the particle description of field the…
Strongly disordered and strongly interacting quantum critical points are difficult to access with conventional field theoretic methods. They are, however, both experimentally important and theoretically interesting. In particular, they are expected to realize universal incoherent transport. Such disordered quantum critical theories have recently been constructed holographically by deforming a CFT by marginally relevant disorder. In this paper we find additional disordered fixed points via relevant disordered deformations of a holographic CFT. Using recently developed methods in holographic tra…
We argue that in a large class of disordered quantum many-body systems, the late time dynamics of time-dependent correlation functions is captured by random matrix theory, specifically the energy eigenvalue statistics of the corresponding ensemble of disordered Hamiltonians. We find that late time correlation functions approximately factorize into a time-dependent piece, which only depends on spectral statistics of the Hamiltonian ensemble, and a time-independent piece, which only depends on the data of the constituent operators of the correlation function. We call this phenomenon "spectral de…
If general relativity is an emergent phenomenon, there may be small violations of diffeomorphism invariance. We propose a phenomenology of perturbatively small violations of general relativity by the inclusion of terms which break general covariance. These can be tested by matching to the Parametrized Post Newtonian (PPN) formalism. The most sensitive tests involve pulsar timing and provide an extremely strong bound, with a dimensionless constraint of order 10^{-20} relative to gravitational strength.
The phase-ordering kinetics of the ferromagnetic two-dimensional Ising model with uniform disorder is investigated by intensive Monte Carlo simulations. Taking into account finite-time corrections to scaling, simple ageing behaviour is observed in the two-time responses and correlators. The dynamical exponent z and the form of the scaling functions only depend on the ratio eps/T, where eps describes the width of the distribution of the disorder. The agreement of the predictions of local scale-invariance generalised to z<> 2 for the two-time scaling functions of response and correlations with t…
The influence of the noise on the long-time ageing dynamics of a quenched ferromagnetic spin system with a non-conserved order parameter and described through a Langevin equation with a thermal noise term and a disordered initial state is studied. If the noiseless part of the system is Galilei-invariant and scale-invariant with dynamical exponent z=2, the two-time linear response function is independent of the noise and therefore has exactly the form predicted from the local scale-invariance of the noiseless part. The two-time correlation function is exactly given in terms of certain noiseless…
Gravity solutions dual to d-dimensional field theories at finite charge density have a near-horizon region which is AdS_2 x R^{d-1}. The scale invariance of the AdS_2 region implies that at low energies the dual field theory exhibits emergent quantum critical behavior controlled by a (0+1)-dimensional CFT. This interpretation sheds light on recently-discovered holographic descriptions of Fermi surfaces, allowing an analytic understanding of their low-energy excitations. For example, the scaling behavior near the Fermi surfaces is determined by conformal dimensions in the emergent IR CFT. In pa…
We consider replicated $O(N)$ symmetry in two dimensions within the exact framework of scale invariant scattering theory and determine the lines of renormalization group fixed points in the limit of zero replicas corresponding to quenched disorder. A global pattern emerges in which the different critical lines are located within the same parameter space. Within the subspace corresponding to the pure case (no disorder) we show how the critical lines for non-intersecting loops ($-2\leq N\leq 2$) are connected to the zero temperature critical line ($N>2$) via the BKT line at $N=2$. Disorder intro…
We study the effects of quenched one-dimensional disorder on the holographic Weyl semimetal quantum phase transition (QPT), with a particular focus on the quantum critical region. We observe the smearing of the sharp QPT linked to the appearance of rare regions at the horizon where locally the order parameter is non-zero. We discuss the role of the disorder correlation and we compare our results to expectations from condensed matter theory at weak coupling. We analyze also the interplay of finite temperature and disorder. Within the quantum critical region we find indications for the presence …
We study the possible dynamical emergence of IR conformal invariance describing the low energy excitations of near-extremal R-charged global AdS5 black holes. We find interesting behavior especially when we tune parameters in such a way that the relevant extremal black holes have classically vanishing horizon area, i.e. no classical ground-state entropy, and when we combine the low energy limit with a large N limit of the dual gauge theory. We consider both near-BPS and non-BPS regimes and their near horizon limits, emphasize the differences between the local AdS3 throats emerging in either ca…
The relationship between physical observables defined in lattice models and the associated (quasi-)primary scaling operators of the underlying field-theory is revisited. In the context of local scale-invariance, we argue that this relationship is only defined up to a time-dependent amplitude and derive the corresponding generalizations of predictions for two-time response and correlation functions. Applications to non-equilibrium critical dynamics of several systems, with a fully disordered initial state and vanishing initial magnetization, including the Glauber-Ising model, the Frederikson-An…
