Comments on the String dual to N=1 SQCD

We study the String dual to N=1 SQCD deformed by a quartic superpotential in the quark superfields. We present a unified view of the previous results in the literature and find new exact solutions and new asymptotic solutions. Then we study the Physics encoded in these backgrounds, giving among other things a resolution to an old puzzle related to the beta function and a sufficient criteria for screening. We also extend our results to the SO(Nc) case where we present a candidate for the Wilson loop in the spinorial representation. Various aspects of this line of research are critically analyzed.Comment: 50 pages plus appendixes. Three figures and two table

AdS black holes as reflecting cavities

We use the identification between null singularities of correlators in the bulk with time singularities in the boundary correlators to study the analytic structure of time-dependent thermal Green functions using the eikonal approximation for classical solutions in the AdS black hole background. We show that the location of singularities in complex time can be understood in terms of null rays bouncing on the boundaries and singularities of the eternal black hole, giving the picture of a `reflecting cavity'. We can then extract the general analytic expression for the asymptotic values of the frequencies of quasinormal modes in large AdS black holes.Comment: 14 pages, 2 figures, reference adde

Knotted solutions for linear and nonlinear theories: Electromagnetism and fluid dynamics

We examine knotted solutions, the most simple of which is the “Hopfion”, from the point of view of relations between electromagnetism and ideal fluid dynamics. A map between fluid dynamics and electromagnetism works for initial conditions or for linear perturbations, allowing us to find new knotted fluid solutions. Knotted solutions are also found to be solutions of nonlinear generalizations of electromagnetism, and of quantum-corrected actions for electromagnetism coupled to other modes. For null configurations, electromagnetism can be described as a null pressureless fluid, for which we can find solutions from the knotted solutions of electromagnetism. We also map them to solutions of Euler's equations, obtained from a type of nonrelativistic reduction of the relativistic fluid equations

Hydrodynamics and beyond in the strongly coupled N=4 plasma

We continue our investigations on the relation between hydrodynamic and higher quasinormal modes in the AdS black hole background started in arXiv:0710.4458 [hep-th]. As is well known, the quasinormal modes can be interpreted as the poles of the retarded Green functions of the dual N=4 gauge theory at finite temperature. The response to a generic perturbation is determined by the residues of the poles. We compute these residues numerically for energy-momentum and R-charge correlators. We find that the diffusion modes behave in a similar way: at small wavelengths the residues go over into a form of a damped oscillation and therefore these modes decouple at short distances. The sound mode behaves differently: its residue does not decay and at short wavelengths this mode behaves as the higher quasinormal modes. Applications of our findings include the definition of hydrodynamic length and time scales. We also show that the quasinormal modes, including the hydrodynamic diffusion modes, obey causality.Comment: 29 pages, 11 figure

A note on the velocity of holographic long-lived mesons

We study fluctuations of a U(1) gauge field on the worldvolume of Nf probe D7-branes in the background of Nc black D3-branes with a finite baryon density. The choice of mode corresponds to vector mesons in the dual gauge theory whose mass and lifetime can be determined by a study of the quasinormal modes. The speed of propagation of these holographic mesons at large momenta is studied from the dispersion relations of the quasinormal modes of the system.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure

Wilson loops in warped resolved deformed conifolds

We calculate quark-antiquark potentials using the relationship between the expectation value of the Wilson loop and the action of a probe string in the string dual. We review and categorize the possible forms of the dependence of the energy on the separation between the quarks. In particular, we examine the possibility of there being a minimum separation for probe strings which do not penetrate close to the origin of the bulk space, and derive a condition which determines whether this is the case. We then apply these considerations to the flavoured resolved deformed conifold background of Gaillard et al. We suggest that the unusual behaviour we observe in this solution is likely to be related to the IR singularity which is not present in the unflavoured case

Heavy Quarkonium States with the Holographic Potential

The quarkonium states in a quark-gluon plasma is examined with the heavy quark potential implied by the holographic principle. Both the vanila AdS-Schwarzschild metric and the one with an infrared cutoff are considered. The dissociation temperature is calculated by solving the Schr\"o dinger equation of the potential model. In the case of the AdS-Schwarzschild metric with a IR cutoff, the dissociation temperatures for $J/\psi$ and $\Upsilon$ with the U-ansatz of the potential are found to agree with the lattice results within a factor of two.Comment: 9 pages with 2 figues in Revte

Meson widths from string worldsheet instantons

We show that open strings living on a D-brane which lies outside an AdS black hole can tunnel into the black hole through worldsheet instantons. These instantons have a simple interpretation in terms of thermal quarks in the dual Yang-Mills (YM) theory. As an application we calculate the width of a meson in a strongly coupled quark-gluon plasma which is described holographically as a massless mode on a D7 brane in AdS_5 \times S_5. While the width of the meson is zero to all orders in the 1/\sqrt{\lambda} expansion with \lambda the 't Hooft coupling, it receives non-perturbative contributions in 1/\sqrt{\lambda} from worldsheet instantons. We find that the width increases quadratically with momentum at large momentum and comment on potential phenomenological implications of this enhancement for heavy ion collisions. We also comment on how this non-perturbative effect has important consequences for the phase structure of the YM theory obtained in the classical gravity limit.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figure

On meson melting in the quark medium

We consider a heavy quark-antiquark $(q\bar{q})$ pair as a heavy meson in the medium composed of light quarks and gluons. By using the AdS/CFT correspondence, the properties of this system are investigated. In particular, we study the inter-quark distance and it is shown that the mechanism of melting in the quark-gluon plasma and in the hadronic phase are the same. It is found that by considering finite coupling corrections, the inter-quark distance of a heavy meson decreases. As a result a heavy meson like $J/ \psi$ will melt at higher temperatures. By considering rotating heavy mesons, we discuss melting of exited states like $\chi_c$ and $\psi'$.Comment: 18 pages, 12 figures, We more clarify and extend the results of arXiv:0907.006