INT Summer School on Applications of String Theory. Summer School will take place July 18-29, 2011, in Seattle, WA.

University Of Washington, Seattle WA

Investigators

Abstract

The "INT Summer School on Applications of String Theory," to be held July 18-29, 2011 at the University of Washington in Seattle, WA, is designed to educate advanced graduate students and beginning postdoctoral researchers in nuclear physics about recent applications of gauge/gravity duality in various subfields of physics. Gauge/gravity duality is a method, originally developed in string theory, which is now being applied to systems in various subfields of physics including nuclear and condensed matter physics. In nuclear physics, the main application has been in modeling the strongly interacting quark gluon plasma, and in modeling hadrons. Attempts to apply the method of gauge/gravity duality to condensed matter physics have been made much more recently; this field is developing very rapidly. At this summer school, participants will learn the basics of gauge/gravity duality (or AdS/CFT correspondence) and its most important applications to the physics of the quark-gluon plasma, hadron physics, and condensed matter physics. The goal is to help the student quickly orient him/herself in the current literature, learn the most important facts, formulate the most important questions, and learn the basic computational skills for successfully using the techniques of gauge/gravity duality. As an interdisciplinary subject, applied AdS/CFT holds a special appeal to students across fields. The plan is to recruit about half of the participants from nuclear theory, and the other half from string theory and condensed matter theory. Such a mixed body will help broaden the view of the participants who will be able to make connections with peers outside their immediate research areas.