Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

Theoretical physics

A black hole full of answers

A facet of string theory, the currently favoured route to a 'theory of everything', might help to explain some properties of exotic matter phases — such as some peculiarities of high-temperature superconductors.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: The answer's out there.

References

  1. Hartnoll, S. A., Kovtun, P. K., Mueller, M. & Sachdev, S. Preprint at <http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.3215> (2007).

  2. Policastro, G., Son, D. T. & Starinets, A. O. Phys. Rev. Lett. 87, 081601 (2001).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Riordan, M. & Zajc, W. A. Sci. Am. 294 (5), 24–31 (2006).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Maldacena, J. Sci. Am. 293 (5), 33–39 (2005).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. van der Marel, D. et al. Nature 425, 271–274 (2003).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Herzog, C. P., Kovtun, P., Sachdev, S. & Son, D. T. Phys. Rev. D 75, 085020 (2007).

    Article  ADS  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  7. Wang, Y., Li, L. & Ong, N. P. Phys. Rev. B 73, 024510 (2006).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Zaanen, J. A black hole full of answers. Nature 448, 1000–1001 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/4481000a

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/4481000a

This article is cited by

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing