The student will spend some time familiarizing themselves with the basics of “gauge/gravity duality”, first order phase transitions and their realization in gravitational systems. They will then simulate the approach towards a phase transition by varying parameters in a toy model using the software Mathematica. The idea is to arrive at a more comprehensive understanding of how a first-order phase transition can occur in the absence of bubble nucleation.
The project is based in part on the following paper: https://arxiv.org/abs/2406.15297
A background in theoretical physics on the level of an MSc student or advanced BSc student. Some basic familiarity with general relativity and Mathematica would be very helpful but is not required.