Related papers: Lectures on Strings and Dualities
There has been spectacular progress in the development of string and superstring theories since its inception thirty years ago. Development in this area has never been impeded by the lack of experimental confirmation. Indeed, numerous bold…
This article, based on the Klein lecture, contains some new results and new speculations on various topics. They include discussion of open strings in the AdS space, unusual features of D-branes, conformal gauge theories in higher…
Recently, Witten proposed a topological string theory in twistor space that is dual to a weakly coupled gauge theory. In this lectures we will discuss aspects of the twistor string theory. Along the way we will learn new things about…
There are at present two known string theories in $(2,2)$ dimensions. One of them is the well known $N=2$ string, and the other one is a more recently constructed $N=1$ spacetime supersymmetric string. They are both based on certain…
Exact duality in supersymmetric gauge theories leads to highly non-trivial predictions about the moduli spaces of BPS monopole solutions. These notes attempt to be a pedagogical review of the current status of these investigations and are…
The key open problem of string theory remains its non-perturbative completion to M-theory. A decisive hint to its inner workings comes from numerous appearances of higher structures in the limits of M-theory that are already understood,…
This thesis investigates two main topics concerning black holes in extensions of general relativity inspired by string theory. First, the structure of the equations of motion underlying black hole solutions is considered, in theories of…
This is a rendering of a review talk on the state of String Theory, given at the EPS-2003 Conference, intended for a wide audience of experimental and theoretical physicists. It emphasizes general ideas rather than technical aspects.
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…
We review work done over the last years on the macroscopic and microscopic entropy of supersymmetric black holes in fourdimensional N=2 supergravity and in N=2 compactifications of string theory and M-theory. Particular emphasis is put on…
We review some recent developments in the theory of $W_\infty$. We comment on its relevance to lower-dimensional string theory.
We review applications of string theory to cosmology, from primordial times to the present-day accelerated expansion. Starting with a brief overview of cosmology and string compactifications, we discuss in detail moduli stabilisation,…
I present arguments to the affect that the topological phase of string theory must be event-symmetric. This motivates a search for a universal string group for discrete strings in event-symmetric space-time which unifies space-time symmetry…
The physical motivations and the basic construction rules for Type I strings and M-theory compactifications are reviewed in light of the recent developments. The first part contains the basic theoretical ingredients needed for building…
These lecture notes provide a short review of the status of time dependent backgrounds in String theory, and in particular those that contain space-like singularities. Despite considerable efforts, we do not have yet a full and compelling…
We study compactifications of the $N=2$ 6D tensionless string on various complex two-folds down to two-dimensions. In the IR limit they become non-trivial conformal field theories in 2D. Using results of Vafa and Witten on the partition…
We study decay of unstable D-branes in string theory in the presence of electric field, and show that the classical open string theory results for various properties of the final state agree with the properties of closed string states into…
We review a selection of recent developments in the application of ideas of string theory to heavy ion physics. Our topics divide naturally into equilibrium and non-equilibrium phenomena. On the non-equilibrium side, we discuss…
This is a brief overview on the current status of string theory for non-specialists. The purpose is to give an aspect on the nature of string theory as a unified theory of all interactions including quantum gravity and to discuss future…
This brief survey aims to set the stage and summarize some of the ideas under discussion at the Workshop on Singular Geometry and Higgs Bundles in String Theory, to be held at the American Institute of Mathematics from October 30th to…