Related papers: The Second Superstring Revolution
Superstring compactifications have been vigorously studied for over four decades, and have flourished involving an active iterative feedback between physics and (complex) algebraic geometry. This led to an unprecedented wealth of…
In these lectures, we review the D=11 supermembrane and supersymmetric matrix models at an introductory level. We also discuss some more recent developments in connection with non-perturbative string theory.
At the present time, string theory (and its generalizations) remain relatively abstruse subjects to the particle phenomenologist and experimentalist. Yet, striking developments of the last two years offer hope that a fundamental…
We consider Type IIB superstring theory with the addition of n 9-branes and n anti-9-branes (and no orientifolds). The result is a ten-dimensional chiral theory of open and closed oriented strings with gauge group U(n) \times U(n). There…
We present a geometric formulation of type-IIA and -IIB superstring theories in which the Wess-Zumino term is second order in the supersymmetric currents. The currents are constructed using supergroup manifolds corresponding to…
Large N topological string dualities have led to a class of proposed open/closed dualities for superstrings. In the topological string context, the worldsheet derivation of these dualities has already been given. In this paper we take the…
Warped supergravities with lower-dimensional branes provide consistent field-theoretic framework for discussion of important aspects of modern string theory physics. In particular, it is possible to study reliably supersymmetry breakdown…
Recent developments in string theory suggest that there might exist extra spatial dimensions, which are not small nor compact. The framework of most brane cosmological models is that in which the matter fields are confined on a brane-world…
The conjectured equivalence of the heterotic string to a $K_3$ compactified type IIA superstring is combined with the conjectured equivalence of the latter to a compactified 11-dimensional supermembrane to derive a string membrane duality…
Superstring theory is one current, promising attempt at unifying gravity with the other three known forces: the electromagnetic force, and the weak and strong nuclear forces. Though this is still a work in progress, much effort has been put…
The perturbative analysis of models of open and closed superstrings presents a number of surprises. For instance, variable numbers of antisymmetric tensors ensure their consistency via generalized Green-Schwarz cancellations and a novel…
The phenomenological aspects of string theory are briefly reviewed. Emphasis is given to the status of 4D string model building, effective Lagrangians, model independent results, supersymmetry breaking and duality symmetries.
We determine the consistent D-brane configurations in type II nonsupersymmetric Melvin Background. The D-branes are analysed from three complementary points of view: the effective Born-Infeld action, the open string partition function and…
In these lecture notes, an introduction to superstring theory is presented. Classical strings, covariant and light-cone quantization, supersymmetric strings, anomaly cancelation, compactification, T-duality, supersymmetry breaking, and…
Existence of open string field theory solutions describing configurations of multiple space-filling D-branes has been a subject of numerous speculations for quite some time. In this talk we present some new results giving further support to…
String theories naturally exhibit dualities that lead to hidden symmetries in the low-energy effective description, which have been used to great effect to generate supergravity solutions. We review recent progress in using hidden…
We argue that two four-dimensional strongly coupled superconformal field theories, on the Higgs branch in certain large N limits, become respectively (2,0) theory and (1,1) little string theory in six dimensions. We identify the spectrum of…
We review the evidence for the various dualities amongst the five D=10 superstring theories and for the existence of M-theory using the associated effective supergravity theories. We also summarise the combinatorial technics developed for…
We review the structure of maximal $D=11$ and $D=10$ supergravities. Upon dimensional reduction, these theories give rise to the unique maximal supergravities in all lower spacetime dimensions $D<10$. In $D$ dimensions, maximal supergravity…
The aim of these notes is to give recent developments in string theory. In particular, we discuss the string spectrums, compactifications, brane physics and dualities.