String Theory, QCD and Black Holes – String-QCD-BH

I intend to use string theory to understand gauge theories in 4 dimensions,
both at strong and weak coupling. This includes describing strongly interacting gauge theories
and their metastable vacua using their supergravity and string duals, as well as understanding
gauge theories at intermediate coupling via integrability. It also includes using and developing
new string-inspired twistor-space techniques to analyze QCD and N=1 amplitudes at one loop
level. I also plan to thoroughly investigate the implications of string theory for the physics of
black holes. In particular I am interested in constructing and analyzing black hole microstates
– smooth horizon-less solutions that are very similar to the black hole asymptotically, but
differ from the black hole at the location of the horizon. Counting and understanding these
microstates via the
AdS
-CFT correspondence will help establish whether black holes should
be thought of as ensembles of such microstate geometries