Gradient flow in holographic superconductors
| dc.contributor.author | Mikula, Paul | |
| dc.contributor.examiningcommittee | Southern, Byron (Physics and Astronomy) Gwinner, Gerald (Physics and Astronomy) Clouatre, Raphael (Mathematics) Mann, Robert (University of Waterloo) | en_US |
| dc.contributor.supervisor | Kunstatter, Gabor (Physics and Astronomy) Carrington, Margaret (Physics and Astronomy) | en_US |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2019-11-06T20:27:25Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2019-11-06T20:27:25Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2019 | en_US |
| dc.date.submitted | 2019-09-28T22:58:38Z | en |
| dc.degree.discipline | Physics and Astronomy | en_US |
| dc.degree.level | Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) | en_US |
| dc.description.abstract | We study the gradient flow equations derived from an Einstein-Maxwell-Higgs model in 3+1 dimensions. We see how this model relates to a phenomenological description of a superconductor in two ways. In flat spacetime the model is equivalent to the Ginzburg-Landau theory of superconductivity and describes a 3 dimensional superconductor. In curved spacetime with negative cosmological constant, we can apply the AdS/CFT correspondence to obtain a 2 dimensional theory on the boundary that describes a superconductor. The gradient flow equations in both cases are a system of parabolic partial differential equations analagous to the heat equation. The flow describes a non-isolated system where energy is allowed to dissipate as the system evolves towards thermal equilibrium. In the first case the gradient flow gives rise to the time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau equations, and we study the formation and interaction of superconducting vortices. In the second case, the flow in the bulk describes the formation of scalar hair around a black hole, which corresponds to the formation of a superconducting condensate on the boundary. The flow in the bulk creates an equivalent flow on the boundary that can be thought of as an extension of the AdS/CFT correspondence to non-equilibrium configurations. | en_US |
| dc.description.note | February 2020 | en_US |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/1993/34362 | |
| dc.language.iso | eng | en_US |
| dc.rights | open access | en_US |
| dc.subject | Gradient flow | en_US |
| dc.subject | Theoretical physics | en_US |
| dc.subject | Holographic principle | en_US |
| dc.subject | AdS/CMT | en_US |
| dc.title | Gradient flow in holographic superconductors | en_US |
| dc.type | doctoral thesis | en_US |