Related papers: TASI Lectures: Cosmology for String Theorists
These are the lecture notes for a short course in topological string theory that I gave at Uppsala University in the fall of 2004. The notes are aimed at PhD students who have studied quantum field theory and general relativity, and who…
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.
These lecture notes review the topological string theory and its applications to mathematics and physics. They expand on material presented at the Takagi Lectures of the Mathematical Society of Japan on 21 June 2008 at Department of…
This article reviews recent developments in the study of universes with a positive cosmological constant in string theory.
We review recent developments in the field of string cosmology with particular emphasis on open problems having to do mainly with geometric asymptotics and singularities. We discuss outstanding issues in a variety of currently popular…
These lectures provide an introduction to perturbative string theory and its construction on spaces with background Ramond flux. Traditional covariant quantization of the string and its connection with vertex operators and conformal…
We briefly review three aspects of string cosmology: (1) the ``stochastic'' approach to the pre-big bang scenario, (2) the presence of chaos in the generic cosmological solutions of the tree-level low-energy effective actions coming out of…
In spite of the phenomenological successes of the inflationary universe scenario, the current realizations of inflation making use of scalar fields lead to serious conceptual problems which are reviewed in this lecture. String theory may…
These lecture notes review the structure of anomalies and present some of their applications in field theory, string theory and M theory. They expand on material presented at the TASI 2003 summer school and the 2005 International Spring…
An overview is given of the formulation of low-energy string cosmologies together with examples of particular solutions, successes and problems of the theory.
In spite of the phenomenological successes of the inflationary universe scenario, the current realizations of inflation making use of scalar fields lead to serious conceptual problems which are reviewed in this lecture. String theory may…
This article, written for Scolarpedia, provides a brief introduction into the subject of cosmic strings, together with a review of their main properties, cosmological evolution and observational signatures.
In these lecture proceedings, we describe some of the fundamental mathematical concepts that underlie supersymmetric string theory and field theory, and their role in describing and testing dualities. In particular, we provide a pedagogical…
This is a one semester course on bosonic string theory aimed at beginning graduate students. The lectures assume a working knowledge of quantum field theory and general relativity. Contents: 1. The Classical String 2. The Quantum String 3.…
The topic of cosmic strings provides a bridge between the physics of the very small and the very large. They are predicted by some unified theories of particle interactions. If they exist, they may help to explain some of the largest-scale…
The intersection of string theory with cosmology is unavoidable in the early universe, and its exploration may shine light on both fields. In this thesis, three papers at this intersection are presented and reviewed, with the aim of…
In these lectures, I review the current status of cosmic strings and cosmic superstrings. I first discuss topological defects in the context of Grand Unified Theories, focusing in particular in cosmic strings arising as gauge theory…
String cosmology aims at providing a reliable description of the very early Universe in the regime where standard-model physics is no longer appropriate, and where we can safely apply the basic ingredients of superstring models such as…
We consider new cosmological solutions with a collapsing, an intermediate and an expanding phase. The boundary between the expanding (collapsing) phase and the intermediate phase is seen by comoving observers as a cosmological past (future)…
Modern cosmology has created a tight link between particle physics / field theory and a wealth of new observational data on the structure of the Universe. These lecture notes focus on some of the most important aspects concerning the…