Abstract
In analogy with an experimental setup used in liquid helium, we use a pointlike probe to study superfluids which have a gravity dual. In the gravity description, the probe is represented by a hanging string. We demonstrate that there is a critical velocity below which the probe particle feels neither drag nor stochastic forces. Above this critical velocity, there is power-law scaling for the drag force, and the stochastic forces are characterized by a finite, velocity-dependent temperature. This temperature participates in two simple and general relations between the drag force and stochastic forces. The formula we derive for the critical velocity indicates that the low-energy excitations are massless, and they demonstrate the power of stringy methods in describing strongly coupled superfluids.
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ArXiv ePrint: 0908.1392
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Gubser, S.S., Yarom, A. Pointlike probes of superstring-theoretic superfluids. J. High Energ. Phys. 2010, 41 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP03(2010)041
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP03(2010)041