Related papers: From Yukawa to M-Theory
For over a century Minkowskian spacetime has dominated discussions of space contraction and time dilation within special relativity. Brown and Pooley have called into question both the assumptions of Minkowski and the effects his presumed…
The implications of string theory for understanding the dimension of uncompactified spacetime are investigated. Using recent ideas in string cosmology, a new model is proposed to explain why three spatial dimensions grew large. Unlike the…
Assuming that superstring theory is the fundamental theory which unifies all forces of Nature at the quantum level, I argue that there are key limitations on the applicability of effective field theory techniques in describing early…
Light is shed on the early stage in the birth of Yukawa's meson theory, particularly on the interplay between Yukawa and Tomonaga in 1933. The discovery of the muon by Nishina' group in 1937 is also reviewed. It is pointed out that…
We study time-dependent solutions in M and superstring theories with higher order corrections. We first present general field equations for theories of Lovelock type with stringy corrections in arbitrary dimensions. We then exhaust all…
The talk contains a brief introduction string theory, followed by a discussion of some of the recent developments.
Einstein distinguished between ``principle'' and ``constructive'' theories in physics, and although he thought the latter were more explanatory than the former, he regarded his 1905 formulation of special relativity theory as a principle…
A complete global analysis of spatially-flat, four-dimensional cosmologies derived from the type IIA string and M-theory effective actions is presented. A non--trivial Ramond-Ramond sector is included. The governing equations are written as…
Aspects of superstring cosmology are reviewed with an emphasis on the cosmological implications of duality symmetries in the theory. The string effective actions are summarized and toroidal compactification to four dimensions reviewed.…
Synopsis: (i) how superstring theories are unified by M-theory; (ii) how superstring and supermembrane properties follow from the D=10 and D=11 supersymmetry algebras; (iii) how D=10 and D=11 supergravity theories determine the strong…
A pedagogical introduction to some of the main ideas and results of field theories on quantized spacetimes is presented, with emphasis on what such field theories may teach us about the problem of quantizing gravity. We examine to what…
Recently, string theory on Calabi--Yau manifolds was constructed and was shown to be a fully consistent, space--time supersymmetric string theory. The physically interesting case is the case of three generations. Intriguingly, it appears at…
This thesis explores an exotic class of M-theory compactifications in which the compact manifold is taken to be a Calabi-Yau five-fold. The resulting effective theory is a one-dimensional N=2 super-mechanics model that exhibits peculiar…
We discuss the obstacles for defining a set of observable quantities analogous to an S-matrix which are needed to formulate string theory in an accelerating universe. We show that the quintessence models with the equations of state $-1 < w…
We show that a recent proposal by Nambu to generate a hierarchy among Yukawa couplings in the standard model may be easily implemented in superstring models. In such models, two of the main ingredients of the Nambu proposal find a natural…
I attempt to give a pedagogical introduction to the matrix model of M-theory as developed by Banks, Fischler, Shenker and Susskind (BFSS). In the first lecture, I introduce and review the relevant aspects of D-branes with the emergence of…
This article is the PhD thesis of the author. It is focused on Type II compactifications because of the potential for the construction of realistic MSSM-like compactifications. In particular we concentrate in Type IIB Calabi-Yau…
This paper examines two cosmological models of quantum gravity (from string theory and loop quantum gravity) to investigate the foundational and conceptual issues arising from quantum treatments of the big bang. While the classical…
The special theory of relativity has fundamentally changed our views of space and time. The relativity of simultaneity in particular, and the theory of relativity as a whole, still presents significant difficulty for beginners in the…
This article reviews the non-perturbative structure of certain higher derivative terms in the type II string theory effective action and their connection to one-loop effects in eleven-dimensional supergravity compactified on a torus. New…