Related papers: String Origins

This article surveys some of the highlights in the development of string theory through the first superstring revolution in 1984. The emphasis is on topics in which the author was involved, especially the observation that critical string…

A brief review of aspects of gravity gauge theory correspondance inspired by string theory is presented.

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, as a theory containing quantum gravity, is usually thought to require more dimensions of spacetime than the usual 3+1. Here I argue on physical grounds that needing extra dimensions for strings may well be an artefact of…

The fundamental string length, which is an essential part of string theory, explicitly breaks scale invariance. However, in field theory we demonstrated recently that the gravitational constant, which is directly related to the string…

In this article, prepared for the book "The birth of string theory", I recall the sequence of ideas which led to non-critical strings and gauge/strings duality. I also comment on some promising future directions.

These lectures trace the origin of string theory as a theory of hadronic interactions (predating QCD itself) to the present ideas on how the QCD string may arise in Superstring theory in a suitably deformed background metric. The…

String theory is at the moment the only advanced approach to a unification of all interactions, including gravity. But, in spite of the more than thirty years of its existence, it does not make any empirically testable predictions, and it…

It is argued that string theory predicts unified field theory rather than general relativity coupled to matter fields. In unified field theory all the objects are geometrical, for strings the Kalb-Ramond matter field is identical to the…

The first quantum string theories were developed around 1970, prior to the discovery of QCD, with the goal of producing a theory of hadrons. Basic physical requirements and mathematical consistency of the string theories known at that time…

Cosmic strings are predicted by many field-theory models, and may have been formed at a symmetry-breaking transition early in the history of the universe, such as that associated with grand unification. They could have important…

Using a classical action associated to a point-particle in (1+1)-dimensions the classical string theory is derived. In connection with this result two aspects are clarified: First, the point particle in (1+1)-dimensions is not an ordinary…

String theory developed by demanding consistency with quantum mechanics. In this paper we wish to reverse the reasoning. We pretend open string field theory is a fully consistent definition of the theory - it is at least a self consistent…

Dictated by Symmetry Principle, string theory predicts not General Relativity but its own gravity which assumes the entire closed string massless sector to be geometric and thus gravitational. In terms of $R/(MG)$, i.e. the dimensionless…

Point particles fall freely along geodesics; strings do not. In string theory all probes of spacetime structure, including photons, are extended objects and therefore always subject to tidal forces. We illustrate how string theory modifies…

In this talk we discuss the need to introduce a string theory in order to obtain a consistent quantum theory of gravity unified with gauge interactions. We then discuss some basic properties of string theory and the origin and the…

We discuss the problem of consistent description of higher spin massive fields coupled to external gravity. As an example we consider massive field of spin 2 in arbitrary gravitational field. Consistency requires the theory to have the same…

This article provides some historical background and then reviews developments in string theory over the last twenty-five years or so. Both perturbative and non-perturbative approaches to string theory are surveyed and their impact on how…

We present a covariant field-theoretical framework for a rank-4 tensor gauge field theory describing fractonic string-like objects. We show that the most general quadratic, parity-preserving action naturally leads to a Maxwell-like sector,…

It is pointed out that string-loop effects may generate matter couplings for the dilaton allowing this scalar partner of the tensorial graviton to stay massless while contributing to macroscopic gravity in a way naturally compatible with…