The AdS/CFT correspondence: A window into strongly-correlated systems

Abstract

The AdS/CFT correspondence, also known as the holographic principle, is a powerful theoretical framework that relates two seemingly disparate fields: string theory in Anti-de Sitter (AdS) space and conformal field theory (CFT) in one fewer dimension. This correspondence is an example of a weak/strong duality which gives us a window into the world of strongly-coupled quantum field theories (QFTs) describing strongly-correlated systems by passing to a weakly-coupled gravitational system. I will give an overview of the AdS/CFT correspondence and apply this duality to a classic example of strongly-correlated electrons, the strange metal, which is a class of material that exhibits unusual thermoelectric transport properties. I will reproduce some of the key measured transport properties of the strange metal by placing it on an explicit lattice and numerically solving the dual gravitational system.