Interfaces And Information In Gauge Gravity Duality

Interfaces and Information in Gauge/Gravity Duality

Information and the World Stage

Modern science is at a tipping point. A new page in the history of knowledge opens with the “information paradigm”, a notion which is gradually supplanting the old mechanistic vision inherited from Galileo and Newton. The author presents an overview of the place of information and communications in our time, explaining some reasons for focusing on these two notions. All areas of knowledge are concerned: philosophy, social sciences, biology, medicine, as well as physics, the so-called “queen of sciences”, from quantum to cosmos. This book is intended for scientific scholars as well as those with just a general interest who are anxious to understand the major evolutions that are taking shape in fields of knowledge in the 21st Century.

Soft Interfaces

Many of the distinctive and useful phenomena of soft matter come from its interaction with interfaces. Examples are the peeling of a strip of adhesive tape, the coating of a surface, the curling of a fiber via capillary forces, or the collapse of a porous sponge. These interfacial phenomena are distinct from the intrinsic behavior of a soft material like a gel or a microemulsion. Yet many forms of interfacial phenomena can be understood via common principles valid for many forms of soft matter. Our goal in organizing this school was to give students a grasp of these common principles and their many ramifications and possibilities. The Les Houches Summer School comprised over fifty 90-minute lectures over four weeks. Four four-lecture courses by Howard Stone, Michael Cates, David Nelson and L. Mahadevan served as an anchor for the program. A number of shorter courses and seminars rounded out the school. This volume collects the lecture notes of the school.