This book describes applications of the AdS/CFT duality to the "real world." The AdS/CFT duality is an idea that originated from string theory and is a powerful tool for analyzing strongly-coupled gauge theories using classical gravitational theories. In recent years, it has been shown that one prediction of AdS/CFT is indeed close to the experimental result of the real quark–gluon plasma. Since then, the AdS/CFT duality has been applied to various fields of physics; examples are QCD, nuclear physics, condensed-matter physics, and nonequilibrium physics. The aim of this book is to provide background materials such as string theory, black holes, nuclear physics, condensed-matter physics, and nonequilibrium physics as well as key applications of the AdS/CFT duality in a single volume. The emphasis throughout the book is on a pedagogical and intuitive approach focusing on the underlying physical concepts. It also includes step-by-step computations for important results, which are useful for beginners. This book will be a valuable reference work for graduate students and researchers in particle physics, general relativity, nuclear physics, nonequilibrium physics, and condensed-matter physics.

Providing a pedagogical introduction to the rapidly developing field of AdS/CFT correspondence, this is one of the first texts to provide an accessible introduction to all the necessary concepts needed to engage with the methods, tools and applications of AdS/CFT. Without assuming anything beyond an introductory course in quantum field theory, it begins by guiding the reader through the basic concepts of field theory and gauge theory, general relativity, supersymmetry, supergravity, string theory and conformal field theory, before moving on to give a clear and rigorous account of AdS/CFT correspondence. The final section discusses the more specialised applications, including QCD, quark-gluon plasma and condensed matter. This book is self-contained and learner-focused, featuring numerous exercises and examples. It is essential reading for both students and researchers across the fields of particle, nuclear and condensed matter physics.

The first textbook on this important topic, for graduate students and researchers in particle and condensed matter physics.

The AdS/CFT correspondence is a powerful tool in studying strongly coupled phenomena in gauge field theories, using results from a weakly coupled gravity background studied in the realm of string theory. AdS/CFT was first successfully applied to the study of phenomena such as the quark-gluon plasma produced in heavy ions collisions. Soon it was realized that its applicability can be extended, in a more phenomenological approach, to condensed matter systems and to systems described by fluid dynamics. The set of tutorial reviews in this volume is intended as an introduction to and survey of the principle of the AdS/CFT correspondence in its field/string theoretic formulation, its applicability to holographic QCD and to heavy ions collisions, and to give a first account of processes in fluid dynamics and condensed matter physics, which can be studied with the use of this principle. Written by leading researchers in the field and cast into the form of a high-level but approachable multi-author textbook, this volume will be of benefit to all postgraduate students, and newcomers from neighboring disciplines wishing to find a comprehensive guide for their future research.

The book deals with applications of the AdS/CFT correspondence to strongly coupled condensed matter systems. In particular, it concerns with the study of thermo-electric transport properties of holographic models exhibiting momentum dissipation and their possible applications to the transport properties of strange metals. The present volume constitutes one of the few examples in the literature in which the topic is carefully reviewed both from the experimental and theoretical point of view, including not only holographic results but also standard condensed matter achievements developed in the past decades. This work might be extremely useful both for scientific and pedagogical purposes.

A pioneering treatise presenting how the mathematical techniques of holographic duality can unify the fundamental theories of physics.

This thesis describes a new connection between algebraic geometry, topology, number theory and quantum field theory. It offers a pedagogical introduction to algebraic topology, allowing readers to rapidly develop basic skills, and it also presents original ideas to inspire new research in the quest for dualities. Its ambitious goal is to construct a method based on the universal coefficient theorem for identifying new dualities connecting different domains of quantum field theory. This thesis opens a new area of research in the domain of non-perturbative physics—one in which the use of different coefficient structures in (co)homology may lead to previously unknown connections between different regimes of quantum field theories. The origin of dualities is an issue in fundamental physics that continues to puzzle the research community with unexpected results like the AdS/CFT duality or the ER-EPR conjecture. This thesis analyzes these observations from a novel and original point of view, mainly based on a fundamental connection between number theory and topology. Beyond its scientific qualities, it also offers a pedagogical introduction to advanced mathematics and its connection with physics. This makes it a valuable resource for students in mathematical physics and researchers wanting to gain insights into (co)homology theories with coefficients or the way in which Grothendieck's work may be connected with physics.