Holographic Ward identities for symmetry breaking in two dimensions

Abstract: We investigate symmetry breaking in two-dimensional field theories which have a holographic gravity dual. Being at large N, the Coleman theorem does not hold and Goldstone bosons are expected. We consider the minimal setup to describe a conserved current and a charged operator, and we perform holographic renormalization in order to find the correct Ward identities describing symmetry breaking. This involves some subtleties related to the different boundary conditions that a vector can have in the three-dimensional bulk. We establish which is the correct prescription that yields, after renormalization, the same Ward identities as in higher dimensions.