A holographic model of magnetohydrodynamics with fortuitous SO(3) symmetry

Abstract: We study magnetohydrodynamics using holography. The gravity model is closely related to the STU supergravity in five dimensions and admits an analytical black brane solution carrying the conserved charge dual to the magnetic 1-form symmetry of the magnetohydrodynamic system. The black brane solution features a fortuitous SO(3) symmetry, providing a new symmetry principle for describing the magnetohydrodynamics. Since the bulk theory contains multiple 2-form gauge fields, the resistivity becomes matrix-valued. We find that the antisymmetric part of the resistivity matrix exhibits novel features depending on the UV cut-off of the theory. We also compute the shear and bulk viscosities and find that the bulk viscosity is proportional to the shear viscosity. Remarkably, the proportionality constant is exactly what is required for conformality, despite the zeroth-order energy-momentum tensor not being trace-free.