Holographic geometries for condensed matter applications

Abstract: Holographic modeling of strongly correlated many-body systems motivates the study of novel spacetime geometries where the scaling behavior of quantum critical systems is encoded into spacetime symmetries. Einstein-Dilaton-Maxwell theory has planar black brane solutions that exhibit Lifshitz scaling and in some cases hyperscaling violation. Entanglement entropy and Wilson loops in the dual field theory are studied by inserting simple geometric probes involving minimal surfaces into the black brane geometry. Coupling to background matter fields leads to interesting low-energy behavior in holographic models, such as U(1) symmetry breaking and emergent Lifshitz scaling.