Gravity seminar - Nick Evans Seminar

Abstract: In QCD the mass generation mechanism and confinement occur at essentially one scale. Old arguments exist that chiral symmetry breaking occurs just first when the quark anomalous dimension gamma=1. Holographic models support this criteria. We seek asymptotically free theories where the gap between the two mechanisms is maximal that might be tested on the lattice. Such models, and possibly QCD, are expected to have a chirally broken yet deconfined quark phase at finite T and mu. We explore the phase diagram of an exactly solved holographic 4d gauge theory with chiral symmetry breaking and a critical point in the T mu plane to shed further light. Finally we study the low T phase as a model of matter at the cores of neutron stars - understanding whether holographic models of quark matter predict a stiff enough equation of state to play a role is still a work in progress but we present models that potentially predict novel quark stars.