Split degenerate states and stable p+ip phases from holography

Abstract

In this paper, we investigate the p+$i$p superfluid phases in the complex vector field holographic p-wave model. We find that in the probe limit, the p+$i$p phase and the p-wave phase are equally stable, hence the p and $i$p orders can be mixed with an arbitrary ratio to form more general p+$\lambda i$p phases, which are also equally stable with the p-wave and p+$i$p phases. As a result, the system possesses a degenerate thermal state in the superfluid region. We further study the case with considering the back reaction on the metric, and find that the degenerate ground states will be separated into p-wave and p+$i$p phases, and the p-wave phase is more stable. Finally, due to the different critical temperature of the zeroth order phase transitions from p-wave and p+$i$p phases to the normal phase, there is a temperature region where the p+$i$p phase exists but the p-wave phase doesn't. In this region we find the stable p+$i$p phase for the first time.