Related papers: The Status of String Theory
In these lectures we give a brief introduction to perturbative and non-perturbative string theory. The outline is the following: 1. Introduction to perturbative string theory 1.1 From point particle to extended objects 1.2 Free closed and…
This is an introduction to some recent developments in string theory and M theory. We try to concentrate on the main physical aspects, and often leave more technical details to the original literature.
String theory in two-dimensional spacetime illuminates two main threads of recent development in string theory: (1) Open/closed string duality, and (2) Tachyon condensation. In two dimensions, many aspects of these phenomena can be explored…
This is a pedagogical introduction to the basics of the cosmic string theory and also a review of the recent progress made with respect to the macrophysical predictions of the theory. Topics covered include, string formation and evolution,…
One cannot yet point to any firm string prediction. While many approximate string ground states are known with interesting properties, we do not have any argument that one or another describes what we observe around us, and for reasons…
In this talk I will survey some of the basic facts about superstring theories in 10 dimensions and the dualities that relate them to M theory in 11 dimensions. Then I will mention some important unresolved issues.
Recent developments in superstring phenomenology are summarized on a non-technical level. (Talk presented at the XXVIIth Rencontre de Moriond on Electroweak Interactions and Unified Theories.)
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…
Fractional superstrings experience new types of ``internal projections'' which alter or deform their underlying worldsheet conformal field theories. In this talk I summarize some recent results concerning both the worldsheet theory which…
Over the last few years, string theory has changed profoundly. Most importantly, novel duality relations have emerged which involve gauge theories of brane excitations on one side and various closed string backgrounds on the other. In this…
We review some recent developments in the theory of $W_\infty$. We comment on its relevance to lower-dimensional string theory.
An overview of some of the developments in string theory over the past two years is given, focusing on four topics: realistic (standard model like) models from string theory, geometric engineering and theories with fluxes, the gauge…
We review the existence, formation and properties of cosmic strings in string theory, the wide variety of observational techniques that are being employed to detect them, and the constraints that current observations impose on string theory…
In these notes, based on a talk given at the Rencontres de Moriond, I give a simple introduction to the tremendous progress that has been made during the last few years towards the understanding of strong-coupling phenomena in quantum gauge…
In an effort to promote communication between the formal and phenomenological branches of the high-energy theory community, we provide a description of some important issues in supersymmetric and string phenomenology. We describe each…
Perturbative superstring theory is revisited, with the goal of giving a simpler and more direct demonstration that multi-loop amplitudes are gauge-invariant (apart from known anomalies), satisfy space-time supersymmetry when expected, and…
We report on recent advances in the understanding of non-perturbative phenomena in the quantum theory of fields and strings.
We discuss superstring theory based on the reader's intuition and her college knowledge of general physics and calculus. Nowadays, superstring theory is considered the best candidate to explain physical phenomena that involve all of the…
We construct a hierarchy of supersymmetric string theories by showing that the general N-extended superstrings may be viewed as a special class of the (N+1)-extended superstrings. As a side result, we find a twisted (N+2) superconformal…
Thermodynamical aspects of string theory are reviewed and discussed.