We use gauge-invariant cosmological perturbation theory to compute one-point functions of active and inert scalar fields of the GPPZ RG-flow in AdS5. Linearized Einstein equations are computed and made gauge-invariant for D-dimensional Euclidean domain-wall geometry. We briefly review the procedure of holographic renormalization for the GPPZ RG-flow in AdS5 to get different one-point functions. The source-dependant vev of the operator dual to the ∆ = 3 active scalar field in the GPPZ solution is computed and agrees with literature. We also find the source-dependant one-point function of the operator dual to the ∆ = 3 inert scalar.

Motivated by the AdS/CFT correspondence, new supersymmetric solutions to Type IIB and Type IIA supergravity are presented. These solutions contain $AdS_5$ or $AdS_4$ factors and are generated using T-duality symmetries of supergravity. The technique used to generate these solutions consists of performing a series of non-Abelian and Abelian T-dualities, sometimes with coordinate shifts in-between, to Freund-Rubin type seed backgrounds. An added bonus of the gauge fixing procedure inherent in non-Abelian T-Duality is the freedom to generate backgrounds with extra free parameters, some examples of which are presented. Aspects of the dual field theories of these new solutions are analyzed using holography techniques. The supersymmetry of these new backgrounds is also discussed. In addition to supergravity backgrounds with AdS, the study of generalized Calabi-Yau manifolds in the context of flux compactifications is briefly reviewed. The particular case of the resolved cone over $Y^{p,q}$ and its admission of generalized SU(3) structure solutions is examined. Contrary to geometries with $AdS$ factors, whose field theory duals are conformal field theories, these types of geometries can be phenomenologically interesting to study, as their gauge theory duals are minimally supersymmetric and confining, thus they could someday help aid our understanding of strongly-coupled QCD (Quantum Chromodynamics).

From Birkoff's theorem, the geometry in four spacetime dimensions outside a spherically symmetric and static, gravitating source must be given by the Schwarzschild metric. This metric therefore satisfies the Einstein vacuum equations. If the mass which gives rise to the Schwarzschild spacetime geometry is concentrated within a radius of r=2M, a black hole will form. Non-accelerating particles (freely falling) traveling through this geometry will do so along parametrized curves called geodesics, which are curved space generalizations of straight paths. These geodesics can be found by solving the geodesic equation. In this thesis, the geodesic structure in the Schwarzschild geometry is investigated with an attempt to generalize the solution to higher dimensions.

In this thesis, the general framework of supersymmetric quantum mechanics and the path integral approach will be presented (as well as the worked out example of the supersymmetric harmonic oscillator). Then the theory will be specialized to the case of supersymmetric quantum mechanics on Riemannian manifolds, which will start from a supersymmetric Lagrangian for the general case and the special case for S2. Afterwards, there will be a discussion on the superfield formalism. Concluding this thesis will be the Hamiltonian formalism followed by the inclusion of deforma- tions by potentials.

The holographic principle has become an extraordinary tool in theoretical physics, most notably in the form of the Anti-deSitter Conformal Field Theory (AdS/CFT) correspondence, in which classical gravitational degrees of freedom in N-dimensions are related quantum field theory degrees of freedom in N − 1 dimensions in the limit of a large number of fields. Here we present an account of the AdS/CFT correspondence, also known as the gauge/gravity duality, from its origins in the large N 'tHooft expansion, up to Maldacena's proposal that type IIB string theory in the presences of D-branes at low energy is dual to an N = 4, d = 4, U(N) super Yang-Mills on AdS5 × S5 . We begin with an extensive review of (super)string theory including D-branes. We then present the general formulation of the AdS/CFT in the supergravity background of AdS5 × S5 , along with several examples of how it is used in terms of the identification of bulk fields with operators on the bound- ary of a CFT. We move on to discuss two applications of the gauge/gravity duality. The first is the application of the holographic gauge/gravity correspondence to the QCDk-string. The second applies the AdS/CFT formalism to a Kerr black hole solution embedded in 10-dimensional heterotic sting theory. These two applications of the holographic gauge/gravity duality comprise the original work presented here. We follow with summaries and discussions of the background material, the original work, and future investigations.

<p>The appearance in string theory of higher-dimensional objects known as D-branes has been a source of much of the interesting developements in the subject during the past ten years. A very interesting phenomenon occurs when several of these D-branes are made to coincide: The abelian gauge theory living on each brane is enhanced to a non-abelian gauge theory living on the stack of coincident branes. This gives rise to interesting effects like the natural appearance of non-commutative geometry. The theory governing the dynamics of these coincident branes is still poorly understood however and only hints of the underlying structure have been seen.</p><p>This thesis focuses on an attempt to better this understanding by writing down actions for coincident branes using so-called boundary fermions, originating in considerations of open strings, instead of matrices to describe the non-abelian fields. It is shown that by gauge-fixing and by suitably quantizing these boundary fermions the non-abelian action that is known, the Myers action, can be reproduced. Furthermore it is shown that under natural assumptions, unlike the Myers action, the action formulated using boundary fermions also posseses kappa-symmetry, the criterion for being the correct supersymmetric action for coincident D-branes.</p><p>Another aspect of string theory discussed in this thesis is that of tensionless strings. These are of great interest for example because of their possible relation to higher spin gauge theories via the AdS/CFT-correspondence. The tensionless superstring in a plane wave background, arising as a particular limit of the near-horizon geometry of a stack of D3-branes, is considered and compared to the tensile case.</p>

<p>The main topic of this doctoral thesis is D-branes in string theory, expressed in the language of conformal field theory. The purpose of string theory is to describe the elementary particles and the fundamental interactions of nature, including gravitation as a quantum theory. String theory has not yet reached the status to make falsifiable predictions, thus it is not certain that string theory has any direct relevance to physics. On the other hand, string theory related research has led to progress in mathematics.</p><p>We begin with a short introduction to conformal field theory and some of its applications to string theory. We also introduce vertex algebras and discuss their relevance to conformal field theory. Some classes of conformal field theories are introduced, and we discuss the relevant vertex algebras, as well as their interpretation in terms of string theory.</p><p>In string theory, a D-brane specifies where the endpoint of the string lives. Many aspects of string theory can be described in terms of a conformal field theory, which is a field theory that lives on a two-dimensional space. The conformal field theory counterpart of a D-brane is a boundary state, which in some cases has a natural interpretation as constraining the string end point. The main focus of this thesis is on the interpretation of boundary states in terms of D-branes in curved target spaces.</p>

<p>This thesis is divided into two parts. In the first part we focus mainly on certain aspects of the AdS/CFT correspondence. The AdS/CFT correspondence is a proposed duality between Type IIB superstring theory on AdS₅ xS⁵ and N = 4 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory. In the BMN limit string states located in the center of AdS₅ rotate quickly around the equator of the S⁵ and correspond, in the dual theory, to operators constructed as long chains of sub-operators. This structure of the operators can be formulated as a spin chain and by using the Bethe ansatz their properties can be obtained by solving a set of Bethe equations. Having infinitely many sub-operators, there are methods for solving the Bethe equations in certain sectors. In paper III finite size corrections to the anomalous dimensions in the SU(2) sector are calculated to leading order.</p><p>Inspired by the chain structure of the corresponding operators, the theory of string bits treats the strings as a discrete sets of points. This theory suffers from the problem of fermion doubling, a general pathology of fermions on a lattice. In paper II we show how to adjust the theory in order to avoid this problem and, in fact, use the fermion doubling to our advantage. The second part of the thesis studies the low energy behaviour of SU(2) Yang-Mills theory in 4 space-time dimensions. In paper I we perform numerical calculations on an effective action for this theory. We propose the existence of a knotted trajectory within the dynamics of this effective action.</p>

The main purpose of Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) program is to study the Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP), a deconfined state of matter believed to be created in ultra-relativistic heavy ion collisions. Heavy quarks, expected to be produced during the earlier stages of heavy ion collisions, serve as an important probe of the QGP.‎ ‎The following dissertation presents measurements of single muons resulting from the semileptonic decay of heavy flavor quarks in the rapidity range of $1.4 < vertetavert < 1.9$ for Cu+Cu nuclei collisions at $sqrt{s_{NN}}=200$ GeV measured by the PHENIX experiment. Single muon spectra were measured for three different centrality classes (0 - 20 \% , 20 - 40 \%, 40 - 94 \%) within the $p_{T}$ range of 1.0 - 4.0 GeV/c.‎ ‎To calculate single muon spectra, a full background estimate was statistically subtracted from inclusive spectra of muon candidate tracks reconstructed in the PHENIX muon arms. The background was predicted and estimated with a ``Hadron Cocktail", a full-scale data-driven Monte Carlo simulation. The hadron cocktail approach was originally developed and implemented to measure single muon production for Run-5 p+p collisions. First, the relevant light hadrons are generated with a ``realistic'' input (ratios of different particle species and $p_{T}$ spectra). The generated tracks are then propagated through the PHENIX detector geometry using GEANT. At the last step, introduced and implemented specifically for this analysis, the simulated tracks were embedded into real events and finally reconstructed with the PHENIX muon arms reconstruction software. This was done to realistically reproduce detector performance due to effects caused by colliding heavy ions. The hadron cocktail method provides a much better alternative to the previously attempted purely data-driven peacemeal approaches which suffer from very large systematic uncertainties.‎ ‎Finally, using baseline single muon measurements for p+p collisions, nuclear modification factors for all of the above specified centralities have been measured. These are the first measurements of single muon spectra and nuclear modification factors at forward angles for any two heavy colliding ion systems.

This thesis is divided into two parts. In the first part we focus mainly on certain aspects of the AdS/CFT correspondence. The AdS/CFT correspondence is a proposed duality between Type IIB superstring theory on AdS5 x S5 and N = 4 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory. In the BMN limit string states located in the center of AdS5 rotate quickly around the equator of the S5 and correspond, in the dual theory, to operators constructed as long chains of sub-operators. This structure of the operators can be formulated as a spin chain and by using the Bethe ansatz their properties can be obtained by solving a set of Bethe equations. Having infinitely many sub-operators, there are methods for solving the Bethe equations in certain sectors. In paper III finite size corrections to the anomalous dimensions in the SU(2) sector are calculated to leading order. Inspired by the chain structure of the corresponding operators, the theory of string bits treats the strings as a discrete sets of points. This theory suffers from the problem of fermion doubling, a general pathology of fermions on a lattice. In paper II we show how to adjust the theory in order to avoid this problem and, in fact, use the fermion doubling to our advantage. The second part of the thesis studies the low energy behaviour of SU(2) Yang-Mills theory in 4 space-time dimensions. In paper I we perform numerical calculations on an effective action for this theory. We propose the existence of a knotted trajectory within the dynamics of this effective action.