Related papers: String/M theory
The first lecture gives a colloquium-level overview of string theory and M-theory. The second lecture surveys various attempts to construct a viable model of particle physics. A recently proposed approach, based on F-theory, is emphasized.
I review some recent progress in String/M-theory
We review the current observational status of string cosmology when confronted with experimental datasets. We begin by defining common observational parameters and discuss how they are determined for a given model. Then we review the…
After a review of some topics concerning the phenomenological applications of perturbative string theory, I discuss to what extent all of it is affected by the recent developements in string dualities.
We survey recent developments in the theory of achievement sets and present a substantial collection of open problems.
Recent progress on the physical states and scattering amplitudes of the $W_3$ string is reviewed with particular emphasis on the relation between this string theory and the Ising model.
The physical motivations and the basic construction rules for Type I strings and M-theory compactifications are reviewed in light of the recent developments. The first part contains the basic theoretical ingredients needed for building…
In these lectures I discuss various unsolved problems of string theory and their relations to quantum gravity, 3d Ising model, large N QCD, and quantum cosmology. No solutions are presented but some new and perhaps useful approaches are…
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…
Open-string theories may be related to suitable models of oriented closed strings. The resulting construction of ``open descendants'' is illustrated in a few simple cases that exhibit some of its key features.
A very brief review is given of some of the developments leading to our current understanding of black holes in string theory. This is followed by a discussion of two possible misconceptions in this subject - one involving the stability of…
In this talk I review recent developments in superstring theory. In the first half of the talk I discuss some of the earlier developments in this subject. This includes a review of the status of string theory as a unified theory of gravity…
We briefly review the status of three-family grand unified string models.
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…
This is an invited contribution to the Special Issue of "Foundations of Physics" titled "Forty Years Of String Theory: Reflecting On the Foundations". I have been asked to assess string theory as an outsider, and to compare it with the…
In these lectures we give a brief introduction to perturbative and non-perturbative string theory. The outline is the following: 1. Introduction to perturbative string theory 1.1 From point particle to extended objects 1.2 Free closed and…
Using as a springboard a three-way debate between theoretical physicist Lee Smolin, philosopher of science Nancy Cartwright and myself, I address in layman's terms the issues of why we need a unified theory of the fundamental interactions…
In this article we examine the compatibility of some recent results, results relating M-Theory to String Theory, with the string-string duality conjecture in six-dimensions. In particular, we rederive the relation between M-Theory and Type…
This article reviews recent developments in the study of universes with a positive cosmological constant in string theory.
This is the written version of a set of introductory lectures on string theory.