Related papers: On non-equilibrium physics and string theory
It has been suggested that reality works like a quantum computer, but such claims are just words if they are not backed up by sound mathematics. In pursuit of the fundamental equations I look to string theory where physicists led by Mike…
The connection between spin and statistics is examined in the context of locally covariant quantum field theory. A generalization is proposed in which locally covariant theories are defined as functors from a category of framed spacetimes…
The dominance of string theory in the research landscape of quantum gravity physics (despite any direct experimental evidence) can, I think, be justified in a variety of ways. Here I focus on an argument from mathematical fertility, broadly…
Recent work has made clear that we have far more control over the dynamics of supersymmetric than non-supersymmetric theories. Here, I discuss some issues in dynamical supersymmetry breaking both in ordinary field theory and in string…
Interrelations between dynamical and statistical laws in physics, on the one hand, and between the classical and quantum mechanics, on the other hand, are discussed with emphasis on the new phenomenon of dynamical chaos. The principal…
The equivalence of quantum field theory and string theory as exemplified by the AdS/CFT correspondence is explored from the point of view of lightcone quantization. On the string side we discuss the lightcone version of the static string…
Statistical equilibrium configurations are important in the physics of macroscopic systems with a large number of constituent degrees of freedom. They are expected to be crucial also in discrete quantum gravity, where dynamical spacetime…
In the past decade we have witnessed remarkable developments in the gauge-gravity duality, which suggested a new approach to superstring theory and quantum space-time. In this context it is important to study supersymmetric large-N gauge…
This is a set of lectures on the gauge/string duality and non-critical strings, with a particular emphasis on the discretized, or matrix model, approach. After a general discussion of various points of view, I describe the recent…
We calculate the power spectrum of density fluctuations in the statistical non-equilibrium field theory for classical, microscopic degrees of freedom to first order in the interaction potential. We specialise our result to cosmology by…
The fluctuations in nonequilibrium systems are under intense theoretical and experimental investigation. Topical ``fluctuation relations'' describe symmetries of the statistical properties of certain observables, in a variety of models and…
The following two loosely connected sets of topics are reviewed in these lecture notes: 1) Gauge invariance, its treatment in field theories and its implications for internal symmetries and edge states such as those in the quantum Hall…
We review recent progress on the instabilities of black strings and branes both for pure Einstein gravity as well as supergravity theories which are relevant for string theory. We focus mainly on Gregory-Laflamme instabilities. In the first…
The microscopic origin of black hole entropy remains one of the more intriguing open questions in theoretical physics. A subplot in this drama is the renowned Cardy-Verlinde formula, which uses two-dimensional conformal formalism to explain…
We provide a pedagogical review of the main ideas and results in non-equilibrium conformal field theory and connected subjects. These concern the understanding of quantum transport and its statistics at and near critical points. Starting…
We argue that quantum gravity should be a super-quantum theory, that is, a theory whose non-local correlations are stronger than those of canonical quantum theory. As a super-quantum theory, quantum gravity should display distinct…
I describe our understanding of physics near the planck length, in particular the great progress of the last four years in string theory. Superstring theory, and a recent extension called M theory, are leading candidates for a quantum…
In this thesis we discuss non-perturbative phenomena emerging in gauge and in string/supergravity theories. We compute the partition function of 5D minimal supersymmetric U(1) gauge theory with extra adjoint matter in general…
In this thesis we investigate the microphysics of cosmic strings in non-minimal quantum field theories. In particular we consider theories in which fermion fields couple to the strings, and those with larger symmetry groups, such as grand…
In the covariant-gauge two-dimensional quantum gravity, various derivations of the critical dimension D=26 of the bosonic string are critically reviewed, and their interrelations are clarified. It is shown that the string theory is not…