String theory and holography

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One of the most ambitious scientific endeavors is to summarize in a single description all the workings of the universe. In the last century, important strides were taken towards this goal, culminating with the two celebrated paradigms: Quantum Mechanics describing the universe at short distances and Einstein's theory of General Relativity describing the universe at large distances. String theory, a very ambitous theory aiming to describe by a common set of principles and equations all phenomena in Nature, manages to tame the inconsistencies and puzzles that arise when Quantum Mechanics and General relavity are put into a common framework. This is accomplished by representing all particles in nature  by a harmonic of a vibrating string, thus giving a common description of all matter and all forces in the universe. Despite the exciting developments generated by string theory, further challenges lie ahead if we are to confront the deepest puzzles of quantum gravity and to provide experimental signatures that will give direct experimental verification of the theory. My research primarily focuses on finding a complete -- Holographic -- description of string  theory, that will allow us solve the deepest puzzles of quantum gravity and at the same time give us new tools to solve strongly coupled gauge theories, such as Quantum Chromodynamics, the known but yet unsolved theory of the strong interactions.