Emergent Lorentz invariance from strong dynamics: holographic examples

We explore the phenomenon of emergent Lorentz invariance in strongly coupled theories. The strong dynamics is handled using the gauge/gravity correspondence. We analyze how the renormalization group flow towards Lorentz invariance is reflected in the two-point functions of local operators and in the dispersion relations of the bound states. The deviations of these observables from the relativistic form at low energies are found to be power-law suppressed by the ratio of the infrared and ultraviolet scales. We show that in a certain subclass of models the velocities of the light bound states stay close to the emergent ‘speed of light’ even at high energies. We comment on the implications of our results for particle physics and condensed matter.