Related papers: Landscape versus Swampland for Higher Derivative G…
I discuss the impact of gauge-gravity duality on our understanding of two classes of systems: conformal quantum matter and compressible quantum matter. The first conformal class includes systems, such as the boson Hubbard model in two…
The swampland conjectures seek to distinguish effective field theories which can be consistently embedded in a theory of quantum gravity from those which can not (and are hence referred to as being in the swampland). We consider two such…
Many strongly coupled field theories admit a spectrum of gauge-invariant bound states that includes scalar particles with the same quantum numbers as the vacuum. The challenge naturally arises of how to characterise them. In particular, how…
We extend the use of holography to investigate the scrambling properties of various physical systems. Specifically, we consider: (i) non-conformal backgrounds of black $Dp$ branes, (ii) asymptotically Lifshitz black holes, and (iii) black…
The dynamics of gravity can be described by two different systems. The first is the familiar spacetime picture of General Relativity, the other is the conformal picture of Shape Dynamics. We argue that the bulk equivalence of General…
We study a bottom-up, holographic description of a field theory yielding the spontaneous breaking of an approximate SO(5) global symmetry to its SO(4) subgroup. The weakly-coupled, six-dimensional gravity dual has regular geometry. One of…
We examine various aspects of the conjectured duality between warped AdS$_5$ geometries with boundary branes and strongly coupled (broken) conformal field theories coupled to dynamical gravity. We also examine compactifications with 5-d…
In the spirit of AdS/CFT correspondence, we study the thermalization of a dual conformal field theory to Gauss-Bonnet gravity by modeling a thin-shell of dust that interpolates between a pure AdS and a Gauss-Bonnet AdS black brane. The…
Holographic currents and their associated Ward identities are derived in the framework of gravity/gauge duality. Holographic improvements of the energy-momentum tensor and R-symmetry current which are consistent with the Ward identities are…
In recent work we showed that, for a class of conformal field theories (CFT) with Gauss-Bonnet gravity dual, the shear viscosity to entropy density ratio, $\eta/s$, could violate the conjectured Kovtun-Starinets-Son viscosity bound,…
Gravity is wonderful. The main goal of this thesis is to explore and discuss two aspects of gravity -- two wonders, which illustrate the richness of the theoretical gravitational landscape: braneworlds and holography. Each one of these…
We discuss the gravitational Higgs mechanism in domain wall background solutions that arise in the theory of 5-dimensional Einstein-Hilbert gravity coupled to a scalar field with a non-trivial potential. The scalar fluctuations in such…
On the basis of a number of Swampland conditions, we argue that the Hilbert space of baby universe states must be one-dimensional in a consistent theory of quantum gravity. This scenario may be interpreted as a type of "Gauss's law for…
Many effective field theories describing gravity cannot arise from an underlying theory based on Riemann geometry or its extensions to include torsion and nonmetricity but may instead emerge from another geometry or may have a nongeometric…
The swampland is the set of seemingly consistent low-energy effective field theories that cannot be consistently coupled to quantum gravity. In this review we cover some of the conjectural properties that effective theories should possess…
We consider the holographic dual of SQCD in the conformal phase. It is based on a higher derivative gravity theory, which ensures the correct field theory anomalies. This is then related to a six dimensional gravity theory via S^1…
We attempt to generalize the AdS/CFT correspondence to non-relativistic conformal field theories which are invariant under Galilean transformations. Such systems govern ultracold atoms at unitarity, nucleon scattering in some channels, and…
Locally asymptotically AdS solutions of Einstein equations coupled with a vector field with a weakly curved boundary metric are found within the fluid-gravity gradient expansion up to second order in gradients. This geometry is dual to 1+3…
Within the framework of holography, the Einstein-Maxwell action with Dirichlet boundary conditions corresponds to a dual conformal field theory in presence of an external gauge field. Nevertheless, in many real-world applications, e.g.,…
The conformal gravity is one of the most important models of quantum gravity with higher derivatives. We investigate the role of the Gauss-Bonnet term in this theory. The coincidence limit of the second coefficient of the Schwinger-DeWitt…