https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-014-3176-9
Regular Article - Theoretical Physics
Inhomogeneity simplified
School of Mathematical Sciences and STAG, University of Southampton, Highfield, Southampton, SO17 1BJ, UK
* e-mail: m.m.taylor@soton.ac.uk
Received:
10
October
2014
Accepted:
8
November
2014
Published online:
5
December
2014
We study models of translational symmetry breaking in which inhomogeneous matter field profiles can be engineered in such a way that black-brane metrics remain isotropic and homogeneous. We explore novel Lagrangians involving square root terms and show how these are related to massive gravity models and to tensionless limits of branes. Analytic expressions for the DC conductivity and for the low frequency scaling of the optical conductivity are derived in phenomenological models, and the optical conductivity is studied in detail numerically. The square root Lagrangians are associated with linear growth in the DC resistivity with temperature and also lead to minima in the optical conductivity at finite frequency, suggesting that our models may capture many features of heavy fermion systems.
© SIF and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg, 2014