Related papers: M-history without the M
This is the written version of a set of introductory lectures on string theory.
Tangle structure trees, introduced in [3], offer a unified data structure that displays all the tangles of a graph or data set together with certificates for the non-existence of any other tangles, either locally or overall. In this paper…
The study of string models including both unoriented closed strings and open strings presents a number of new features when compared to the standard case of models of oriented closed strings only. We review some basic features of the…
We explore the symmetry structure of Type II Little String Theories and their T-dualities. We construct these theories both from the bottom-up perspective starting with seed Superconformal Field Theories, and from the top-down using…
We argue that all conjectured dualities involving various string, M- and F- theory compactifications can be `derived' from the conjectured duality between type I and SO(32) heterotic string theory, T-dualities, and the definition of M- and…
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…
These lectures explore what can be learnt about M-theory from its superalgebra. The first three lectures introduce the 'basic' branes of M-theory, and type II superstring theories, and show how the duality relations between them are encoded…
This is a brief description of what has been accomplished and what remains to be done in the construction of a nonperturbative formulation of "The Theory Formerly Known as String". It is culled from two short talks given by the author at…
String-bit models are both an efficient way of organizing string perturbation theory, and a possible non-perturbative composite description of string theory. This is a summary of ideas and results of string-bit and superstring-bit models,…
We discuss various dual {\it pairs} of $M$-theory compactifications. Each pair consists of a compactification in which the two-brane plays the crucial role in relation to a string theory and a compactification in which the five-brane takes…
Duality symmetries in M--theory and string theory are reviewed, with particular emphasis on the way in which string winding modes and brane wrapping modes can lead to new spatial dimensions. Brane world-volumes wrapping around Lorentzian…
We show that a class of torsional compactifications of the heterotic string are dual to conventional Kahler heterotic string compactifications. This observation follows from the recently proposed analogue of the c-map for the heterotic…
In this lecture we review some of the recent developments in string theory on an introductory and qualitative level. In particular we focus on S-T-U dualities of toroidally compactified ten-dimensional string theories and outline the…
Motivated by issues in string theory and M-theory, we provide a pedestrian introduction to automorphic forms and theta series, emphasizing examples rather than generality.
I describe some recent work in which classical solutions of Dirac-Born-Infeld theory may be used to throw light on some properties of M-theory. The sources of Born-Infeld theory are the ends of strings ending on the world volume.…
We consider two dimensional string backgrounds. We discuss the physics of long strings that come from infinity. These are related to non-singlets in the dual matrix model description.
Orientifolds of the type IIB superstring that descend from F theory and M theory orbifolds are studied perturbatively. One finds strong evidence that a previously ignored twisted open string is required in these models. An attempt is made…
We review the recent developments in superstrings. We start with a brief summary of various consistent superstring theories and discuss T-duality which necessarily leads to the presence of D-branes. The properties of D-branes are summarized…
This is a book review for Zhan's Matrix Theory (AMS, GSM 147, 2013).
This is a completely reformulated presentation of a previous paper with the same title; this time with a much stronger emphasis on conceptual aspects of string theory and a detailed review of its already more than four decades lasting…