Holographic Thermalization
Wieland Staessens (University of Brussels)

Using the AdS/CFT correspondence, we propose a method to study the thermalization of strongly coupled field theories, via calculations of two-point functions, Wilson loops and the entanglement entropy in 2, 3 and 4 dimensions. In the saddlepoint approximation these probes are computed in the gravity dual in terms of invariant geometric objects (geodesics, minimal surfaces and minimal volumes). Applying this method to field theories which are perturbed by a sudden injection of energy, we can deduce some universal features concerning the thermalization properties of strongly coupled field theories with a gravity dual.