Related papers: Beyond eta/s = 1/4pi

The duality map between gauge theories and strings suggests that when the gauge theory is in the weak coupling regime the dual string tension effectively tends to zero, $\alpha' \to \infty$. This observation of Sundborg and Witten initiates…

We report on some recent results within the string/gauge theory correspondence, both in the conformal and in the non conformal cases, for a recently found class of N=1 dual pairs. These results provide the first cross check of AdS/CFT and…

In this article I first give an abbreviated history of string theory and then describe the recently-conjectured field-string duality. This suggests a class of nonsupersymmetric gauge theories which are conformal (CGT) to leading order of…

Using chiral perturbation theory we investigate the QCD shear viscosity ($\eta $) to entropy density ($s$) ratio below the deconfinement temperature ($\sim 170$ MeV) with zero baryon number density. It is found that $\eta /s$ of QCD is…

Recently, string theory on some specific curved backgroud spacetime geometries has been conjectured to be equivalent to certain gauge theories (AdS/CFT correspondence). This correspondence may be used to investigate the non-perturbative…

It has been shown by Polchinski and Strassler that the scaling of high energy QCD scattering amplitudes can be obtained from string theory. They considered an AdS slice as an approximation for the dual space of a confining gauge theory.…

Gauge/Gravity dualities open the non-perturbative realms of strongly-coupled gauge theories to analytic treatment. Anti-de Sitter Space/Conformal Field The- ory, one way of connecting gravity dual models to gauge theories, is a correspon-…

The dilaton field in string theories (if exists) is expected to have a mass of the order of the gravitino mass $m_{3/2}$ which is in a range of $10^{-2}$keV--1GeV in gauge-mediated supersymmetry breaking models. If it is the case, the…

We explore the possibilities for scaling violation in gauge theories that have string duals. Like in perturbative QCD, short-distance behaviour yields logarithms that violate the scaling.

We study the duality between string theory on AdS_3 X S^3 X S^3 and two-dimensional conformal theories with large N=4 superconformal algebra A_gamma. We discuss configurations of intersecting branes which give rise to such near-horizon…

Non-supersymmetric d=4 gauge theories which arise from superstring duality on a manifold $AdS_5 \times S_5/Z_p$ are cataloged for a range $2 \leq p \leq 41$. A number have vanishing two-loop gauge \beta-function, a necessary but not…

In any quantum theory of gravity we do expect corrections to Einstein gravity to occur. Yet, at fundamental level, it is not apparent what the most relevant corrections are. We argue that the generic curvature square corrections present in…

A computation of the quotient of shear viscosity to entropy density, or KSS number $\eta/s$ is performed, in the non-relativistic and classical regime, first in Chiral Perturbation Theory, and then in the $SO(g+1)/SO(g)$ Non-Linear Sigma…

We use the real-time finite-temperature AdS/CFT correspondence to compute the effect of general R^2 corrections to the gravitational action in AdS space on the shear viscosity of the dual gauge theory. The R^2 terms in AdS_5 are determined…

We calculate the shear viscosity of field theories with gravity duals of Gauss-Bonnet gravity with a non-trivial dilaton using AdS/CFT. We find that the dilaton filed has a non-trivial contribution to the ratio of shear viscosity over…

Using the AdS/CFT correspondence we study vacua of N=4 SYM for which part of the gauge symmetry is broken by expectation values of scalar fields. A specific subclass of such vacua can be analyzed with gauged supergravity and the…

These lectures trace the origin of string theory as a theory of hadronic interactions (predating QCD itself) to the present ideas on how the QCD string may arise in Superstring theory in a suitably deformed background metric. The…

In the context of gauge/gravity duality, we try to understand better the proposed duality between the fractional D2-brane supergravity solutions of (Nucl. Phys. B 606 (2001) 18, hep-th/0101096) and a confining 2+1 dimensional gauge theory.…

We consider the low energy phenomenology of superstrings. In particular we analyse supersymmetry breaking via gaugino condensate and we compare the phenomenology of the two different approaches to stabilize the dilaton field. We study the…

The first part of these lectures contains an introductory review of the AdS/CFT duality and of its tests. Applications to thermal gauge theory are also discussed briefly. The second part is devoted to a review of gauge-string dualities…