Metal-insulator transition in holography

Abstract

We exhibit an interaction-driven metal-insulator quantum phase transition in a holographic model. Use of a helical lattice enables us to break translation invariance while preserving homogeneity. The metallic phase is characterized by a sharp Drude peak and a d.c. resistivity that increases with temperature. In the insulating phase the Drude spectral weight is transferred into a `mid-infrared' peak and to energy scales of order the chemical potential. The d.c. resistivity now decreases with temperature. In the metallic phase, operators breaking translation invariance are irrelevant at low energy scales. In the insulating phase, translation symmetry breaking effects are present at low energies. We find the near horizon extremal geometry that captures the insulating physics.