Stability conditions for spatially modulated phases

Abstract: We introduce a novel set of stability conditions for vacua with broken Lorentz symmetry. The first class of conditions require that the energy be minimized under small geometric deformations, which translates into requiring the positivity of a "stiffness" four-tensor. The second class of conditions requires that stress forces be restoring under small deformations. We then apply these conditions to examples of recently-discovered spatially modulated (or "striped") phases in holographic models of superconductors and high-density QCD. For backreacted solutions we find that the pressure condition is equivalent to thermodynamic stability. For probe solutions, however, these conditions are in conflict with the minimization of the free energy. This suggests that either the solutions are unstable or the definition of the free energy in the probe approximation must be revised for these solutions.