Triangle Seminars

Abstract:
Recent theoretical advances in string theory relate
in an unexpected way the physics of gravity in certain D dimensional
space-times with the dynamics of quantum field theories living
on the associated (D-1) dimensional space-time boundary. This
unsuspected relationship offers a remarkable new tool
for dealing with some outstanding problems in condensed matter
physics. In the first part of the talk I aim to explain both the intuitive and
technical underpinnings of these new developments. In the second half of
the talk I will present some recent results on aging in systems far
from equilibrium and also some new avenues for
research in condensed matter physics which involve the interplay of gauge
fields, membranes and many-body systems .
In particular this last work opens up an
exciting possibility for fundamentally new states of condensed matter.