Related papers: Status of Superstring and M-Theory
In this set of lectures I review recent developments in string theory emphasizing their non-perturbative aspects and their recently discovered duality symmetries. The goal of the lectures is to make the recent exciting developments in…
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…
This is the second in a series of papers intended to provide a basic overview of some of the major ideas in particle physics. Part I [arXiv:0810.3328] was primarily an algebraic exposition of gauge theories. We developed the group theoretic…
We give a pedagogical introduction to string theory, D-branes and p-brane solutions.
This introductory work combines bottom-up and top-down approaches towards understanding the underlying categorical structure of possible unifying theories descending from string theory. Guided by well-established developments in the realm…
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…
This is a short arrangement of notes on D-branes, offered as an embellishment of five lectures which were presented at the 1998 Trieste Spring School entitled ``Non-Perturbative Aspects of String Theory and Supersymmetric Gauge Theory''.…
Superstring theory, and a recent extension called M theory, are leading candidates for a quantum theory that unifies gravity with the other forces. As such, they are certainly not ordinary quantum field theories. However, recent duality…
These are the lecture notes of the introductory String Theory course held by one of the authors for the master program of Theoretical Physics at Turin University. The world-sheet approach to String Theory is pedagogically introduced in the…
This is a Concluding Talk, not a Summary of the FPCP 2011 Conference. I will first make some comments on the status and the prospects of particle physics and then review some of the highlights that particularly impressed me at this…
This is mainly a brief review of some key achievements in a `hot'' area of theoretical and mathematical physics. The principal aim is to outline the basic structures underlying {\em integrable} quantum field theory models with {\em…
In these lecture proceedings, we describe some of the fundamental mathematical concepts that underlie supersymmetric string theory and field theory, and their role in describing and testing dualities. In particular, we provide a pedagogical…
These lectures aim to provide a global picture of the spaces of consistent quantum supergravity theories and string vacua in higher dimensions. The lectures focus on theories in the even dimensions 10, 8, and 6. Supersymmetry, along with…
In this thesis we investigate topological aspects and arithmetic structures in quantum field theory and string theory. Particular focus is put on consistent truncations of supergravity and compactifications of F-theory.
F-theory is perhaps the most general currently available approach to study non-perturbative string compactifications in their geometric, large radius regime. It opens up a wide and ever-growing range of applications and connections to…
Following Dyson's analogy between the quantum field theory and the 19th-century chemistry-both explain how but not why-one could also establish an analogy between atomic physics and string theory. Atomic physics was needed to answer the…
These are the lecture notes for a short course in topological string theory that I gave at Uppsala University in the fall of 2004. The notes are aimed at PhD students who have studied quantum field theory and general relativity, and who…
In this report of the workshop on `Physics of the Very Early Universe' held at GR14, the recent status and open problems in a selected number of major areas of interest are reviewed, focusing on attempts to develop a superstring cosmology…
With our current level of understanding, the problem of making string theory predictions is not one of "solving" the theory, but rather of trying to determine whether there are any generic expectations. Within this context, we discuss what…
In recent years there has been some progress in understanding how one might model the interactions of branes in M-theory despite not having a fundamental perturbative description. The goal of this review is to describe different approaches…