Critical Exponents of Nonequilibrium Phase Transitions in AdS/CFT Correspondence

Abstract

We study critical phenomena of nonequilibrium phase transitions by using the AdS/CFT correspondence. Our system consists of charged particles interacting with a heat bath of neutral gauge particles. The system is in current-driven nonequilibrium steady state, and the nonequilibrium phase transition is associated with nonlinear electric conductivity. We define a susceptibility as a response of the system to the current variation. We further define a critical exponent from the power-law divergence of the susceptibility. We find that the critical exponent and the critical amplitude ratio of the susceptibility agree with those of the Landau theory of equilibrium phase transitions, if we identify the current as the external field in the Landau theory.