Quasinormal Modes of Near Extremal Black Branes

Abstract

We find quasinormal modes of near extremal black branes by solving a singular boundary value problem for the Heun equation. The corresponding eigenvalues determine the dispersion law for the collective excitations in the dual strongly coupled N=4 SYM at finite temperature.

Comments: 15 pages, 4 figures, minor corrections. In memory of Aleksandr Sergeevich Vshivtsev