Abstract

In this talk I will first introduce the general notion of hydrodynamics as an effective theory, and the approximation involved. I will then review the relation between hydrodynamics and black hole physics within the context of the AdS/CFT correspondence, and here in particular how the AdS/CFT correspondence predicts the hydrodynamic transport properties of certain strongly coupled states of matter. Finally, I will present results of a recent phenomenological study of strongly coupled fluids in channel geometries motivated by the AdS/CFT correspondence.