Mesons versus quasi-normal modes: undercooling and overheating

Abstract

In holographic models of gauge theories with matter, there generically exists a first order phase transition in which mesons dissociate. We perform a careful analysis of the meson and quasi-particle spectra in the overheated resp. undercooled regimes close to the junction of the two phases. We show that all overheated finite meson masses eventually become infinitely degenerate, which implies that any connection to the quasi-particle spectrum is more subtle than previously suggested. For the Sakai-Sugimoto model no smooth connection between these spectra is possible.