Holographic quark gluon plasma with flavor

In this work I explore theoretical and phenomenological implications of chemical potentials and charge densities inside a strongly coupled thermal plasma, using the gauge/gravity correspondence. Strong Coupling effects discovered in this model theory are interpreted geometrically and may be taken as qualitative predictions for heavy ion collisions at RHIC and LHC. In particular I examine the thermodynamics, spectral functions, transport coefficients and the phase diagram of the strongly coupled plasma. For example stable mesons, which are the analogs of the QCD Rho-mesons, are found to survive beyond the deconfinement transition. A phase transition resembling 2-flavor QCD is discovered. The momentum diffusion rate of charmonium at strong coupling is significantly reduced compared to the weak coupling result, in reminiscence of the universal viscosity bound. This paper is based on partly unpublished work performed in the context of my PhD thesis. New results and ideas extending significantly beyond those published until now are stressed. (C) 2009 WILEY-VCH Verlag Gmbh & Co. KGaA. Weinheim