Current Driven Tricritical Point in Large-N_{c} Gauge Theory.

Area of Science:

• High-energy physics
• Condensed matter theory
• Quantum field theory

Background:

• Nonequilibrium systems exhibit unique phase transitions not found in equilibrium.
• Strongly coupled gauge theories are challenging to study analytically.
• The AdS/CFT correspondence provides a powerful tool to study strongly coupled systems.

Purpose of the Study:

• To discover and characterize a new tricritical point in a specific theoretical framework.
• To investigate the role of external fields (electric and magnetic) in driving phase transitions.
• To explore the connection between nonequilibrium phase transitions and established equilibrium theories.

Main Methods:

• Utilizing the Anti-de Sitter/Conformal Field Theory (AdS/CFT) correspondence.
• Analyzing a (3+1)-dimensional strongly coupled large-N_{c} gauge theory.
• Investigating phase transitions under the influence of electric currents and magnetic fields.

Main Results:

• A novel tricritical point was identified, existing exclusively in nonequilibrium steady states.
• The tricritical point is linked to chiral symmetry breaking.
• Calculated critical exponents align with predictions from Landau theory for equilibrium phase transitions.

Conclusions:

• The findings suggest that nonequilibrium phase transitions can be described by Landau-like phenomenological theories.
• The AdS/CFT correspondence is a viable framework for exploring complex nonequilibrium phenomena.
• This work opens avenues for understanding emergent behaviors in strongly correlated systems out of equilibrium.