On Black Holes, Cold Materials, and Hot Nuclei

An ICTP conference on applications of gauge/gravity duality, held from 15 to 26 August 2011, brought together pioneers in the field.  The conference, aimed at experts, has helped foster discussions and collaborations in this area of research.

The gauge/gravity duality, a conjecture, allows physicists to study the physics of strongly coupled quantum systems, such as the quark-gluon plasma, cold fermionic systems, and phenomena in condensed matter physics such as superconductivity,
by mapping these problems to the study of classical physics of black holes. This tool (gauge/gravity duality) has revealed universal features of different strongly coupled dynamical systems that were previously difficult to calculate.

Research in this direction will not only add to our understanding of the physics in different systems but could also find applications in developing new types of materials to study superconductivity and quantum liquid behaviour.

Organizers of the conference said they were happy with the level of discussions and interaction between participants and they look forward to fruitful collaborations that will lead to more advances in the field.