Observables of a strongly coupled anisotropic plasma

In this thesis we apply the gauge/gravity duality to the study of a strongly coupled plasma with a spatial anisotropy. After reviewing the type IIB supergravity solution dual to such a system, we compute various physi- cal observables of interest, such as the drag force experienced by a heavy quark plowing the plasma, the jet quenching parameter of the medium, the screening length between a quark-antiquark pair, and the production rate of thermal photons emitted by the plasma. We compare our results, when possible, with the corresponding weak-coupling results obtained with per- turbative techniques and with the experimental results from the heavy ion collision experiments at RHIC and LHC.