Related papers: Notes on Strings and Higher Spins
We comment on the relation between string theory and empirical science, grounding our discussion in cosmology, a subject with increasingly precise data in which this connection operates at several levels. It is important to take into…
I describe how superstring theory may violate spin-statistics in an experimentally observable manner. Reviewing the basics of superstring interactions and how to utilize these to produce a statistical phase, I then apply these ideas to two…
These notes on string theory are based on a series of talks I gave during my graduate studies. As the talks, this introductory essay is intended for young students and non-string theory physicists.
A review of various aspects of superstrings in background electromagnetic fields is presented. Topics covered include the Born-Infeld action, spectrum of open strings in background gauge fields, the Schwinger mechanism, finite-temperature…
In an effort to promote communication between the formal and phenomenological branches of the high-energy theory community, we provide a description of some important issues in supersymmetric and string phenomenology. We describe each…
I discuss some current thoughts on how low-energy measurements and consistency constrain theories at high energies with emphasis on string theory. I also discuss some recent work on the dynamics of supersymmetric gauge theories.
The general $\sigma$-model-type string action including both massless and massive higher spins background fields is suggested. Field equations for background fields are followed from the requirement of quantum Weyl invariance. It is shown…
A brief review of the status of duality symmetries in string theory is presented. The evidence is accumulating rapidly that an enormous group of duality symmetries, including perturbative T dualities and non-perturbative S-dualities,…
We define string geometry: spaces of superstrings including the interactions, their topologies, charts, and metrics. Trajectories in asymptotic processes on a space of strings reproduce the right moduli space of the super Riemann surfaces…
In addition to being a prime candidate for a fundamental unified theory of all interactions in nature, string theory provides a natural setting to understand gauge field theories. This is linked to the concept of "D-branes": extended,…
The first part is an introduction to conformal field theory and string perturbation theory. The second part deals with the search for a deeper answer to the question posed in the title. Contents: 1. Conformal Field Theory 2. String Theory…
The aim of these lectures is to give an introduction to several topics which lie at the intersection of string theory, gravity theory and gravity phenomenology. One successively reviews: (i) the "membrane" approach to the dissipative…
The aim of these notes is to give recent developments in string theory. In particular, we discuss the string spectrums, compactifications, brane physics and dualities.
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…
In this thesis, we present two aspects of higher-spin gauge field theories: dualities and interactions. We first consider dualities of the free theories at the level of the action. Then, external "electric" and "magnetic" sources are…
This talk considers possible lessons of string theory for low energy physics. These are of two types. First, assuming that string theory is the correct underlying theory of all interactions, we ask whether there are any generic predictions…
This is a rendering of a review talk on the state of String Theory, given at the EPS-2003 Conference, intended for a wide audience of experimental and theoretical physicists. It emphasizes general ideas rather than technical aspects.
After briefly reviewing basic concepts of perturbative string theory, we explain in simple terms some of the new findings that created excitement among the string physicists. These developments include non-perturbative dualities and a…
An example of a consistent theory with massive higher spin fields is constructed in flat space-time of dimension three. The action is written in the light-cone gauge. The theory has certain stringy features, e.g. its spectrum is unbounded…
We study a $U(N)$-invariant vector+matrix chain with the color structure of a lattice gauge theory with quarks and interpret it as a theory of open andclosed strings with target space $\Z$. The string field theory is constructed as a…