Dynamic critical phenomena at a holographic critical point

Abstract

We study time-dependent perturbations to a family of five-dimensional black hole spacetimes constructed as a holographic model of the QCD phase diagram. We use the results to calculate two transport coefficients, the bulk viscosity and conductivity, as well as the associated baryon diffusion constant, throughout the phase diagram. Near the critical point in the T

plane, the transport coefficients remain finite, although their derivatives diverge, and the diffusion goes to zero. This provides further evidence that large- N c gauge theories suppress convective transport. We also find a divergence in the low-temperature bulk viscosity, outside the region expected to match QCD, and compare the results to the transport behavior of known R -charged black holes.