Related papers: String theory: an update
This is a summary of a talk at Strings2000 explaining three ways in which string theory and M-theory are related to the mathematics of K-theory.
We consider, in a string theory framework, physical processes of phenomenological interest in models with a low string scale. The amplitudes we study involve tree-level virtual gravitational exchange, divergent in a field-theoretical…
String theory is the most promising candidate theory for a unified description of all fundamental forces exist in the nature. It provides a mathematical framework that combine quantum theory with Einstein's general theory of relativity. But…
String theory is accused by some of its critics to be a purely abstract mathematical discipline, having lost the contact to the simple yet deeply rooted questions which physics provided until the beginning of this century. We argue that, in…
This is a pedagogical review article surveying the various approaches towards understanding gauge coupling unification within string theory. As is well known, one of the major problems confronting string phenomenology has been an apparent…
Thermodynamical aspects of string theory are reviewed and discussed.
This article is based on a talk given at the ``Strings'97'' conference. It discusses the search for the universality class of confining strings. The key ingredients include the loop equations, the zigzag symmetry, the non-linear…
This is a broad-brush review of how string theory addresses several important questions of gravitational physics. The problem of non-renormalizability is first reviewed, followed by introduction of string theory as an ultraviolet-finite…
This is a pedagogical introduction to the basics of the cosmic string theory and also a review of the recent progress made with respect to the macrophysical predictions of the theory. Topics covered include, string formation and evolution,…
This is a short arrangement of notes on D-branes, offered as an embellishment of five lectures which were presented at the 1998 Trieste Spring School entitled ``Non-Perturbative Aspects of String Theory and Supersymmetric Gauge Theory''.…
Exact string solutions are presented, providing backgrounds where a dynamical change of topology is occuring. This is induced by the time variation of a modulus field. Some lessons are drawn concerning the region of validity of effective…
String and field theory ideas have greatly influenced each other since the so called second string revolution. We review this interrelation paying particular attention to its phenomenological implications. Our guiding principle is the…
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…
This is a very brief survey of some results in the geometry of string duality delivered at a lecture given at ICM 1998, Berlin. String Duality is the statement that one kind of string theory compactified on one space is equivalent in some…
Pair creation of strings in time-dependent backgrounds is studied from an effective field theory viewpoint, and some possible cosmological applications are discussed. Simple estimates suggest that excited strings may have played a…
We use solvable two-dimensional gauge theories to illustrate the issues in relating large N gauge theory to string theory. We also give an introduction to recent mathematical work which allows constructing master fields for higher…
These lectures present a general critical assessment of various frameworks for quantum gravity, with particular emphasis on string theory. The topics discussed cover field-theoretical approaches to quantum gravity, anomalies, bosonic and…
These are notes of a series of lectures on mirror symmetry and topological string theory given at the Mathematical Sciences Center at Tsinghua University. The N=2 superconformal algebra, its deformations and its chiral ring are reviewed. A…
These notes are devoted to the intriguing and still largely unexplored links between String Theory and Higher Spins, the types of excitations that lie behind its most cherished properties. A closer look at higher-spin fields provides some…
In these lectures we review the basic ideas of perturbative and non-perturbative string theory. On the non-perturbative side we give an introduction to D-branes and string duality. The elementary concepts of non-BPS branes and…