  We study the quasi-normal modes (QNM) of scalar, electromagnetic and
gravitational perturbations of black holes in general relativity whose horizons
have toroidal, cylindrical or planar topology in an asymptotically anti-de
Sitter (AdS) spacetime. The associated quasinormal frequencies describe the
decay in time of the corresponding test field in the vicinities of the black
hole. In terms of the AdS/CFT conjecture, the inverse of the frequency is a
measure of the dynamical timescale of approach to thermal equilibrium of the
corresponding conformal field theory.
