Related papers: Lectures on 2D gravity and 2D string theory (TASI …
The loop representation of quantum gravity has many formal resemblances to a background-free string theory. In fact, its origins lie in attempts to treat the string theory of hadrons as an approximation to QCD, in which the strings…
These lectures cover aspects of solitons with focus on applications to the quantum dynamics of supersymmetric gauge theories and string theory. The lectures consist of four sections, each dealing with a different soliton. We start with…
These lecture notes are devoted to the theory of equations of associativity describing geometry of moduli spaces of 2D topological field theories. Introduction. Lecture 1. WDVV equations and Frobenius manifolds. {Appendix A.} Polynomial…
Causal dynamical triangulations (CDT) can be used as a regularization of quantum gravity. In two dimensions the theory can be solved anlytically, even before the cut-off is removed and one can study in detail how to take the continuum…
Physicists in search of the foundation of the world: how tiny objects can create matter, energy and even space and time - and possibly countless other universes. -- This article is meant as an introduction into quantum geometry (loop…
This contribution, aimed mostly at experimental particle physicists, reviews some of the main ideas and results of String Theory in a non-technical language. It originates from the talks presented by the authors at the Electro-Weak session…
The unified theory of string and two-dimensional quantum gravity is considered. The action for two-dimensional gravity is choosen in a well-known induced form and thus gravity posesses it's oun nontrivial dynamics even on the classical…
We investigate the classical phase space of 2-d string theory. We derive the linearised covariant equations for the spacetime fields by considering the most general deformation of the energy-momentum tensor which describes $c=1$ matter…
A classical two dimensional theory of gravity which has a number of interesting features (including a Newtonian limit, black holes and gravitational collapse) is quantized using conformal field theoretic techniques. The critical dimension…
These lecture notes are intended for starting PhD students in theoretical physics who have a working knowledge of General Relativity. The 4 topics covered are (1) Surface charges as conserved quantities in theories of gravity; (2) Classical…
This is a write-up of introductory lectures on black holes in string theory given at TASI-99. Topics discussed include: Black holes, thermodynamics and the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy, the information problem; supergravity actions, conserved…
This is the written version of a short talk given at the University of Leipzig in December 1998. It reviews some general aspects of string theory from the viewpoint of the search for an unifying theory. Here, special emphasis lies on the…
Euclidean dilaton gravity in two dimensions is studied exploiting its representation as a complexified first order gravity model. All local classical solutions are obtained. A global discussion reveals that for a given model only a…
Lectures given at the Trieste Summer School, 1992. These notes are an update of my review article "Classical and Quantum W-Gravity", preprint QMW-92-1, published in in "Strings and Symmetries 1991", with some extra material on W-geometry,…
We show how to formulate a lattice gauge theory whose naive continuum limit corresponds to two-dimensional (Euclidean) quantum gravity including a positive cosmological constant. More precisely the resultant continuum theory corresponds to…
These lecture notes give an overview of recent results in geometric Langlands correspondence which may yield applications to quantum field theory. We start with a motivated introduction to the Langlands Program, including its geometric…
Much of modern string theory research concerns AdS/CFT duality, or more generally, gauge/gravity duality. The main subjects are a) Testing and understanding such dualities by exploring how they work for systems with a lot of supersymmetry…
Four-dimensional (4D) simplicial quantum gravity coupled to both scalar fields (N_X) and gauge fields (N_A) has been studied using Monte-Carlo simulations. The matter dependence of the string susceptibility exponent gamma^{(4)} is…
We find the precise relationship between the loop gas method and the matrix quantum mechanics approach to two-dimensional string theory. The two systems are distinguished by different target spaces ($\Z$ and $\R$, respectively) as far as…
This lecture surveys a few loosely related topics, ranging from the scarcity of quantum field theories -- and the role that this has played, and still plays, in physics -- to paradoxes involving black holes in soluble two dimensional string…