Spectral Weight Suppression and Fermi Arc-like Features with Strong Holographic Lattices

Abstract

We investigate holographic fermions in uni-directional striped phases, where the breaking of translational invariance can be generated either spontaneously or explicitly. We solve the Dirac equation for a probe fermion in the associated background geometry. When the spatial modulation effect becomes sufficiently strong, we see a spectral weight suppression whenever the Fermi surface is larger than the first Brillouin zone. This leads to the gradual disappearance of the Fermi surface along the symmetry breaking direction, in all of the cases we have examined. This effect appears to be a generic consequence of strong inhomogeneities, independently of whether translational invariance is broken spontaneously or explicitly. The resulting Fermi surface is segmented and has features reminiscent of Fermi arcs.