Related papers: Geometry As Seen By String Theory
This is a survey of the theory of real trees and their applications.
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…
It has been argued by Ishikawa and Kato that by making use of a specific bosonization, $c_M=1$ string theory can be regarded as a constrained topological sigma model. We generalize their construction for any $(p,q)$ minimal model coupled to…
This article briefly summarizes the motivations for -- and recent progress in -- searching for cosmological configurations within string theory, with a focus on how much we might reasonably hope to learn about fundamental physics from…
This paper comprises the written version of the lectures on string theory delivered at the 31st British Universities Summer School on Theoretical Elementary Particle Physics which was held in Manchester, England, August 28 - September 12…
In these introductory lectures we summarize some basic facts and techniques about perturbative string theory (sections 1 to 6). These are further developed (sections 7 and 8) for describing string propagation in the presence of…
To appear in Encyclopedia of Mathematical Physics, published by Elsevier in early 2006. Comments/corrections welcome. The article surveys topological aspects in gauge theories.
This review is devoted to open strings, and in particular to the often surprising features of their spectra. It follows and summarizes developments that took place mainly at the University of Rome ``Tor Vergata'' over the last decade, and…
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…
The topological description of $2D$ string theory at the self-dual radius is studied in the algebro-geometrical formulation of the $A_{k+1}$ topological models at $k=-3$. Genus zero correlators of tachyons and their gravitational…
Orbifolds in field theory are potentially singular objects for at their fixed points the curvature becomes infinite, therefore one may wonder whether field theory calculations near orbifold singularities can be trusted. String theory is…
The possible tensor constructions of open string theories are analyzed from first principles. To this end the algebraic framework of open string field theory is clarified, including the role of the homotopy associative A_\infty algebra, the…
Survey article on loop groups and their representations, following a course of three lectures held at the summer school "algebraic groups" at the Georg-August-Universitaet zu Goettingen, June 27--July 13, 2005. We discuss loop groups, their…
It is argued that string theory may pose new conceptual issues for the history and philosophy of science.
A method is presented by which a hidden N=2 superconformal symmetry can be exhibited in a string theory or indeed in a topological conformal field theory. More precisely, we present strong evidence, based on calculations with string…
In this paper we interpret cohomological class using the notion of tower of torsors, we apply our construction to string theory.
These are lecture notes for a 4h mini-course held in Toulouse, May 9-12th, at the thematic school on "Quantum topology and geometry". The goal of these lectures is to (a) explain some incarnations, in the last ten years, of the idea of…
This is a short summary of my lectures given at the Fourth Mexican School on Gravitation and Mathematical Physics. These lectures gave a brief introduction to black holes in string theory, in which I primarily focussed on describing some of…
A few observations concerning topological string theories at the string-tree level are presented: (1) The tree-level, large phase space solution of an arbitrary model is expressed in terms of a variational problem, with an ``action'' equal,…
Stationary rotating strings can be viewed as geodesic motions in appropriate metrics on a two-dimensional space. We obtain all solutions describing stationary rotating strings in flat spacetime as an application. These rotating strings have…