The lowest dimensional gluon condensate $G_2$ is analysed at finite temperature and chemical potential using a bottom/up holographic model of QCD. Starting from the free energy of the model, pressure, entropy and quark density are obtained. Moreover,
at zero chemical potential, the temporal and spatial Wilson loops at low temperature are computed; they are related to the (chromo-)electric and magnetic components of $G_2$, respectively.
Mesons with quantum numbers $J^{PC}=1^{-+}$ cannot be represented as simple quark-antiquark pairs. We explore hybrid configurations in the light meson sector comprising a quark, an antiquark and an excited gluon, studying the properties of such state
s in a phenomenological model inspired by the gauge/gravity correspondence. The computed mass, compared to the experimental mass of the $1^{-+}$ candidates $pi_1(1400)$, $pi_1(1600)$ and $pi_1(2015)$, favous $pi_1(1400)$ as the lightest hybrid state. An interesting result concerns the stability of hybrid mesons at finite temperature: they disappear from the spectral function (i.e. they melt) at a lower temperature with respect to other states, light vector and scalar mesons, and scalar glueballs.
An effective Lagrangian approach based on the heavy quark and chiral symmetry is introduced to analyse the spectroscopy of open charm mesons. Strong two-body decay widths and ratios of branching fractions are computed, and this piece of information i
s used to assign quantum numbers to recently observed charmed states which still need to be properly classified.
The lowest dimensional gluon condensate $G_2$ is analyzed at finite temperature and chemical potential using a holographic model of QCD with conformal invariance broken by a background dilaton. Starting from the free energy of the model, the thermody
namical quantities needed to determine the $T$ and $mu$ dependence of the gluon condensate are evaluated. At high temperature the gluon condensate is independent of chemical potential. Moreover, at $mu=0$ and in the string frame, the temporal and spatial Wilson loops at low temperature are computed; they are related to the (chromo) electric and magnetic components of $G_2$, respectively. The $T$-dependence of the two components is separately determined.
We investigate vector meson spectral functions at finite temperature and density through the soft wall model, a bottom-up holographic approach to QCD. We find narrow resonances at small values of the parameters, becoming broader as temperature and de
nsity increase. We study dissociation of such states, occurring when no peak can be distinguished in the spectral function. We also find a decreasing of the mass of vector mesons at increasing temperature and density. Finally, a discussion of these results is presented.
