The Witten-Sakai-Sugimoto model: A brief review and some recent results

Abstract: A brief review of the Witten-Sakai-Sugimoto model is given, which is a top-down holographic model of low-energy QCD with chiral quarks derived from type-IIA superstring theory. The main predictions of the model, in particular concerning meson spectra, the gluon condensate, the QCD string tension, the mass of the $\eta'$ and of baryons are discussed and compared quantitatively with available experimental and/or lattice results. Then some recent results of potential interest to the physics program at the future FAIR facility are presented: The spectrum of glueballs and their decay rates into pions, and the phase diagram of QCD at finite temperature, density, and magnetic field strength.