We construct a p-adic analog to AdS/CFT, where an unramified extension of the p-adic numbers replaces Euclidean space as the boundary and a version of the Bruhat-Tits tree replaces the bulk. Correlation functions are computed in the simple case of a single massive scalar in the bulk, with results that are strikingly similar to ordinary holographic correlation functions when expressed in terms of local zeta functions. We give some brief discussion of the geometry of p-adic chordal distance and of Wilson loops. Our presentation includes an introduction to p-adic numbers.

Early efforts to understand complexity in field theory have primarily employed a geometric approach based on the concept of circuit complexity in quantum information theory. In a parallel vein, it has been proposed that certain deformations of the Euclidean path integral that prepares a given operator or state may provide an alternative definition, whose connection to the standard notion of complexity is less apparent. In this letter, we bridge the gap between these two proposals in two-dimensional conformal field theories, by explicitly showing how the latter approach from path integral optimization may be given by a concrete realization within the standard gate counting framework. In particular, we show that when the background geometry is deformed by a Weyl rescaling, a judicious gate counting allows one to recover the Liouville action as a particular choice within a more general class of cost functions.

Supplementing the holographic Einstein-Maxwell-dilaton model of [1,2] by input of lattice QCD data for 2+1 flavors and physical quark masses for the equation of state and quark number susceptibility at zero baryo-chemical potential we explore the resulting phase diagram over the temperature-chemical potential plane. A first-order phase transition sets in at a temperature of about 112 MeV and a baryo-chemical potential of 612 MeV. We estimate the accuracy of the critical point position in the order of approximately 5 − 8 % by considering parameter variations and different low-temperature asymptotics for the second-order quark number susceptibility. The critical pressure as a function of the temperature has a positive slope, i.e. the entropy per baryon jumps up when crossing the phase border line from larger values of temperature/baryo-chemical potential, thus classifying the phase transition as a gas-liquid one. The updated holographic model exhibits in-and outgoing isentropes in the vicinity of the first-order phase transition.