Holographic charge density waves

Abstract

We discuss a gravity dual of a charge density wave consisting of a U(1) gauge\nfield and two scalar fields in the background of an AdS$_4$ Schwarzschild black\nhole together with an antisymmetric field (probe limit). Interactions drive the\nsystem to a phase transition below a critical temperature. We numerically\ncompute the ground states characterized by modulated solutions for the gauge\npotential corresponding to a dynamically generated unidirectional charge\ndensity wave in the conformal field theory. Signatures of the holographic\ndensity waves are retrieved by studying the dynamical response to an external\nelectric field. We find that this novel holographic state shares many common\nfeatures with the standard condensed matter version of charge density wave\nsystems.\n