Konwersatorium im. Leopolda Infelda

Ultra-relativistic heavy ion collision programs at RHIC and LHC probe the properties of matter under extreme conditions in which quarks and gluons are liberated from hadrons and form the so-called quark-gluon plasma. I will discuss the progress on theoretical understanding the formation of the quark-gluon plasma in heavy ion collisions, and related questions, coming from the first principle calculations in the models of strong interactions solvable using the gauge/gravity duality, also known as AdS/CFT or (gravitational) holography. This leads to a fascinating connection with gravitational physics, in particular black hole formation and dynamics, which I will discuss in detail.