Abstract:

Many low dimensional condensed matter systems exhibit zero  temperature phase transitions driven by quantum fluctuations. These  are known as "quantum" phase transitions. The description of such  transitions is beyond the usual Landau-Ginzburg-Wilson paradigm of  a single order parameter. At criticality, such systems exhibit  novel behavior including the appearance of fractional statistics,  gauge symmetries and scale invariance. We study a novel type of  critical points described by 2+1 non-relativistic field theories.  For a special value of the "dynamical critical exponent" z= 2, such  theories are known to describe the transition between ordered  (confined) phases and novel topological (deconfined) phases.  Moreover, they have the remarkable property that the ground state  wave functional can be written as a partition function of an  (euclidean) two dimensional CFT. We use the AdS/CFT correspondence  to study possible duals of such theories. In particular, we begin a  systematic study of the holographic RG flow in the bulk. This allow  us to compute expectation values and correlation functions in the  ground state of the critical theory. In this talk we will focus on  the "stress tensor". Our ultimate goal is to understand the  transition to a topological phase using AdS/CFT.remarkable property that the ground state wave functional can be written as a partition function of an (euclidean) two dimensional CFT. We use the AdS/CFT correspondence to study possible duals of such theories. In particular, we begin a systematic study of the holographic RG flow in the bulk. This allow us to compute expectation values and correlation functions in the ground state of the critical theory. In this talk we will focus on the "stress tensor". Our ultimate goal is to understand the transition to a topological phase using AdS/CFT.