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We review the holographic correspondence between field theories and string/M theory, focusing on the relation between compactifications of string/M theory on Anti-de Sitter spaces and conformal field theories. We review the background for this correspondence and discuss its motivations and the evidence for its correctness. We describe the main results that have been derived from the correspondence in the regime that the field theory is approximated by classical or semiclassical gravity. We focus on the case of the N = 4 supersymmetric gauge theory in four dimensions, but we discuss also field theories in other dimensions, conformal and non-conformal, with or without supersymmetry, and in particular the relation to QCD. We also discuss some implications for black hole physics.

We compute the three point correlation functions for primordial scalar and tensor fluctuations in single field inflationary models. We obtain explicit expressions in the slow roll limit where the answer is given terms of the two usual slow roll parameters. In a particular limit the three point functions are determined completely by the tilt of the spectrum of the two point functions. We also make some remarks on the relation of this computation to dS/CFT and AdS/CFT. We emphasize that (A)dS/CFT can be viewed as a statement about the wavefunction of the universe.

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