I work on string theory and its applications to the understanding of black holes, phase transitions, and strongly coupled gauge theories. I focus particularly on the gauge-string duality, which relates gauge theories in four flat spacetime dimensions to string theory in five or ten curved dimensions. The gauge theories that can be described in this way are relatives of quantum chromodynamics, which is the theory of quarks and gluons.

There is growing hope that the gauge-string duality may be able to describe aspects of heavy-ion collisions. Such collisions cause protons and neutrons to melt into their constituent quarks and gluons, and it is generally believed that a locally thermalized state forms: the quark-gluon plasma. The strategy of the gauge-string duality is to compare the properties of the quark-gluon plasma to black holes in five curved dimensions. The results of such comparisons include predictions for the shear and bulk viscosity and the magnitude and pattern of energy loss from energetic heavy quarks. There are significant challenges in comparing string theory predictions to data, but successes to date are sufficient to motivate further work.

I have long been interested in black hole phase transitions, especially the tendency for horizons to become spatially inhomogeneous. I recently suggested several mechanisms by which black holes can go through a superconducting phase transition at finite temperature.

I maintain interests also in theoretical cosmology and in more formal aspects of the gauge-string duality. 

You can visit my homepage and my research group's page.

• "Breaking an Abelian gauge symmetry near a black hole horizon," Phys. Rev. D78, 065034, arXiv:0801.2977 [hep-th] (2008).
• (with A. Yarom) "Linearized hydrodynamics from probe-sources in the gauge-string duality," Nucl. Phys. B813, 188-219, arXiv:0803.0081 [hep-th] (2009).
• (with D. Gulotta, S. Pufu, and F. Rocha) "Gluon energy loss in the gauge-string duality," JHEP 10, 052, arXiv:0803.1470 [hep-th] (2008).
• "Colorful horizons with charge in anti-de Sitter space," Phys. Rev. Lett. 101, 191601, arXiv:0803.3483 [hep-th] (2008).
• (with A. Nellore) "Mimicking the QCD equation of state with a dual black hole," Phys. Rev. D78, 086007, arXiv:0804.0434 [hep-th] (2008).
• (with A. Nellore, S. Pufu, and F. Rocha) "Thermodynamics and bulk viscosity of approximate black hole duals to finite temperature quantum chromodynamics," Phys. Rev. Lett. 101, 131601, arXiv:0804.1950 [hep-th] (2008).
• (with S. Pufu and A. Yarom) "Entropy production in collisions of gravitational shock waves and of heavy ions," Phys. Rev. D78, 066014, arXiv:0805.1551 [hep-th] (2008).
• (with S. Pufu) "The gravity dual of a p-wave superconductor," JHEP 11, 033, arXiv:0805.2960 [hep-th] (2008).
• (with S. Pufu and F. Rocha) "Bulk viscosity of strongly coupled plasmas with holographic duals," JHEP 08, 085, arXiv:0806.0407 [hep-th] (2008).
• (with F. Rocha) "The gravity dual to a quantum critical point with spontaneous symmetry breaking," Phys. Rev. Lett. 102, 061601, arXiv:0807.1737 [hep-th] (2009).
• (with A. Nellore) "Low-temperature behavior of the Abelian Higgs model in anti-de Sitter space," JHEP 04, 008, arXiv:0810.4554 [hep-th] (2009).
• "Time warps," arXiv:0812.5107 [hep-th] (2008).
• (with A. Karch) "From gauge-string duality to strong interactions: a Pedestrian's Guide," arXiv:0901.0935 [hep-th] (2009).
• (with S. Pufu, F. Rocha, and A. Yarom) "Energy loss in a strongly coupled thermal medium and the gauge-string duality," arXiv:0902.4041 [hep-th] (2009).
• (with S. Pufu and A. Yarom) "Off-center collisions in $AdS_5$ with applications to multiplicity estimates in heavy-ion collisions," JHEP 11, 050, arXiv:0902.4062 [hep-th] (2009).
• (with C. Herzog, S. Pufu, and T. Tesileanu) "Superconductors from Superstrings," Phys. Rev. Lett. 103, 141601, arXiv:0907.3510 [hep-th] (2009).
• "Using string theory to study the quark-gluon plasma: progress and perils," Nucl. Phys. A830, 657c-664c, arXiv:0907.4808 [hep-th] (2009).
• (with S. Pufu and F. Rocha) "Quantum critical superconductors in string theory and M-theory," arXiv:0908.0011 [hep-th] (2009).
• (with A. Yarom) "Pointlike probes of superstring-theoretic superfluids," arXiv:0908.1392 [hep-th] (2009).
• (with A. Nellore) "Ground states of holographic superconductors," arXiv:0908.1972 [hep-th] (2009).
• (with F. Rocha) "Peculiar properties of a charged dilatonic black hole in $AdS_5$" arXiv:0911.2898 [hep-th] (2009).
• (with F. Rocha and P. Talavera) "Normalizable fermion modes in a holographic superconductor," arXiv:0911.3632 [hep-th] (2009).