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arxiv: hep-th/0405231 · v2 · submitted 2004-05-26 · ✦ hep-th · gr-qc· hep-ph

Viscosity in Strongly Interacting Quantum Field Theories from Black Hole Physics

classification ✦ hep-th gr-qchep-ph
keywords blackclassdualfieldholeinteractingquantumratio
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The ratio of shear viscosity to volume density of entropy can be used to characterize how close a given fluid is to being perfect. Using string theory methods, we show that this ratio is equal to a universal value of $\hbar/4\pi k_B$ for a large class of strongly interacting quantum field theories whose dual description involves black holes in anti--de Sitter space. We provide evidence that this value may serve as a lower bound for a wide class of systems, thus suggesting that black hole horizons are dual to the most ideal fluids.

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