Transport properties of strongly coupled plasmas from black hole physics

          @misc{ pirsa_PIRSA:07030034,
            doi = {10.48660/07030034},
            url = {https://pirsa.org/07030034},
            author = {Starinets, Andrei},
            keywords = {Quantum Fields and Strings},
            language = {en},
            title = {Transport properties of strongly coupled plasmas from black hole physics},
            publisher = {Perimeter Institute},
            year = {2007},
            month = {mar},
            note = {PIRSA:07030034 see, \url{https://pirsa.org}}
          }
          

Abstract

Shear viscosity is a transport coefficient in the hydrodynamic description of liquids, gases and plasmas. The ratio of the shear viscosity and the volume density of the entropy has the dimension of the ratio of two fundamental constants - the Planck constant and the Boltzmann constant - and characterizes how close a given fluid is to a perfect fluid. Transport coefficients are notoriously difficult to compute from first principles. Recent progress in string theory, in particular the development of the gauge-gravity duality, has enabled one to approach this problem from a totally unexpected perspective. In my talk, I will describe the connection between the dynamics of black hole horizons (encoded in their quasinormal spectra) and the hydrodynamics of certain strongly coupled plasmas. I will comment on the relevance of this approach for the interpretation of data obtained in experiments on heavy ion collisions.