Using the top-down approach, we study intersecting Dp-Dq brane configuration in string theory and find examples, where there can be a quantum phase transition at zero temperature induced by the violation of the Breitenlohner-Freedman bound at IR, which is done essentially by a combination of charge density and magnetic fields. In particular, there exists a Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) type of transition for D3-D5 and D5-D5 systems. The study of the BKT type of transition is initiated by Jensen et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 105, 041601 (2010)] for a D3-D5 system with nonzero charge density and a magnetic field. Here, we show that one can have the BKT transition for a D3-D5 system even in the absence of charge density but requires multiple magnetic fields. In this case the field theory lives in $2+1$ dimensions, whereas for the D5-D5 type, the transition requires the presence of both the charge density and magnetic fields and the dual field theory lives on a $3+1$ dimensional spacetime. We also study the D3-D7 system but it does not show the BKT type of transition.

• Received 9 July 2010

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.82.086013