Emergent Quantum Near-Criticality from Baryonic Black Branes

TL;DR

We construct a top-down holographic model of a baryon-number chemical potential by building a baryonically charged black 3-brane in AdS_5 x T^{1,1}. A consistent 5d truncation with two neutral scalars and a U(1)_B gauge field yields coupled equations whose numerical solution reveals a finite‑temperature phase with a zero‑temperature near-horizon region that is a warped AdS_2 throat, containing logarithmic warp factors and an emergent quantum near‑criticality. Stability checks using wrapped D3-brane probes and a generalized truncation including the conifold resolution mode indicate no baryonic or neutral instabilities within the explored regime, although the extremal limit is subtle due to stringy effects. The work provides a controlled setting to explore finite-density dynamics in a well‑defined AdS/CFT dual and motivates further study of IR conformal structures and possible connections to condensed-matter phenomena.

Abstract

We find new black 3-brane solutions describing the "conifold gauge theory" at nonzero temperature and baryonic chemical potential. Of particular interest is the low-temperature limit where we find a new kind of weakly curved near-horizon geometry; it is a warped product AdS_2 x R^3 x T^{1,1} with warp factors that are powers of the logarithm of the AdS radius. Thus, our solution encodes a new type of emergent quantum near-criticality. We carry out some stability checks for our solutions. We also set up a consistent ansatz for baryonic black 2-branes of M-theory that are asymptotic to AdS_4 x Q^{1,1,1}.