Related papers: The birth of string theory

We consider a prescription for introducing deformed dispersion relations in the bosonic string action. We find that in a subset of such theories it remains true that the embedding coordinates propagate linearly on the worldsheet. While both…

A new formalism for generation of solutions in the consistently truncated low-energy bosonic string theory is developed. This formalism gives a correspondence of the projection type between the theories toroidally compactified from the…

In these lectures I review the progress made over the last few years in the subject of string and string-inspired phenomenology. I take a practical approach, thereby concentrating more on explicit examples rather than on formal…

We start by giving a brief introduction to string theory with emphasis on the example of the bosonic string. In order to fully appreciate string theory it is necessary to study the dynamics of the surface that the string traces out when…

String theory in two-dimensional spacetime illuminates two main threads of recent development in string theory: (1) Open/closed string duality, and (2) Tachyon condensation. In two dimensions, many aspects of these phenomena can be explored…

We show that the $c=1$ bosonic string theory at finite temperature has two matrix-model realizations related by a kind of duality transformation. The first realization is the standard one given by the compactified matrix quantum mechanics…

In the 1950's Wigner and collaborators provided an explanation for the spectrum of hadronic excitations in terms of Random Matrix Theory. In the 1980's it was understood that some hadronic spectral properties were generic to systems whose…

String theory is changing the relationship between mathematics and physics. The central role is played by the phenomenon of duality, which is intrinsic to quantum physics and abundant in string theory.

The subject matter of these lecture notes is the open bosonic critical string, its perturbative spectrum and interactions. We begin with a brief review of classical string propagation, quantization, as well as the level-by-level…

As of today there exist consistent, gauge-invariant string field theories describing all string theories: bosonic open and closed strings, open superstrings, heterotic strings and type II strings. The construction of these theories require…

This is the written version of a short talk given at the University of Leipzig in December 1998. It reviews some general aspects of string theory from the viewpoint of the search for an unifying theory. Here, special emphasis lies on the…

The evolution of a closed bosonic string is envisaged in the time-dependent background of its massless modes. A duality transformation is implemented on the spatial component of string coordinates to obtain a dual string. It is shown that…

The cosmic string theory for cosmological fluctuations is a good example of healthy scientific progress in cosmology. It is a well defined physically motivated model that has been tested by cosmological observations and has been ruled out…

We argue that string theory emerges inevitably from a few simple assumptions about physical scattering. Consistency alone requires that all tree-level four-point scattering amplitudes exhibit vanishing residues at prescribed values of the…

The 26 dimensional bosonic string, first suggested by Nambu and Goto, is reduced to a four dimensional superstring by using two species of 6 and 5 Majorana fermions as proposed by Deo. These two species of fermions differ in their…

This essay presents a critical evaluation of the concepts of string theory and its impact on particle physics. The point of departure is a historical review of four decades of string theory within the broader context of six decades of…

This is an invited contribution to the Special Issue of "Foundations of Physics" titled "Forty Years Of String Theory: Reflecting On the Foundations". I have been asked to assess string theory as an outsider, and to compare it with the…

We review the existence, formation and properties of cosmic strings in string theory, the wide variety of observational techniques that are being employed to detect them, and the constraints that current observations impose on string theory…

A modified rigid string theory with infrared behaviour governed by a nontrivial fixed point is presented.

The past year has seen enormous progress in string theory. It has become clear that all of the different string theories are different limits of a single theory. Moreover, in certain limits, one obtains a new, eleven-dimensional structure…