Related papers: Superstrings, Unifications and dualities
These four lectures, addressed to an audience of graduate students in experimental high energy physics, survey some of the basic concepts in string theory. The purpose is to convey a general sense of what string theory is and what it has…
A reconciliation of gravitation and electromagnetism has eluded physics for neearly a century. It is argued here that this is because both quantum physics and classical physics are set in differentiable space time manifolds with point…
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…
Particle physics models where there are large hidden extra dimensions are currently on the focus of an intense activity. The main reason is that these large extra dimensions may come with a TeV scale for quantum gravity (or string theory)…
We review the remarkable interplay between modular symmetries and supergravity, which has led to major advances in both physics and mathematics in recent decades. Our focus will be on four-dimensional models with $\mathcal{N}=1$ and…
The recent developments in string theory suggest that the space-time coordinates should be generalized to non-commuting matrices. Postulating this suggestion as the fundamental geometrical principle, we formulate a candidate for covariant…
I discuss the early developments of string theory with respect to its connection with gauge theory and general relativity from my own perspective. The period covered is mainly from 1969 to 1974, during which I became involved in research on…
String theory is changing the relationship between mathematics and physics. The central role is played by the phenomenon of duality, which is intrinsic to quantum physics and abundant in string theory.
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.
The two major goals in fundamental physics are: 1) Unification of all forces incorporating relativity and quantum theory, 2) Understanding the origin and evolution of the Universe as well as explaining the smallness of the cosmological…
We discuss duality between Type IIA string theory, eleven-dimensional supergravity, and heterotic string theory in four spacetime dimensions with $N=1$ supersymmetry. We find theories whose infrared limit is trivial at enhanced symmetry…
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 offer an interpretation of super-quantum correlations in terms of a "doubly" quantum theory. We argue that string theory, viewed as a quantum theory with two deformation parameters, the string tension \alpha' and the string coupling…
We consider field theories with sixteen supersymmetries, which includes U(N) Yang-Mills theories in various dimensions, and argue that their large N limit is related to certain supergravity solutions. We study this by considering a system…
This essay presents a critical evaluation of the concepts of string theory and its impact on particle physics. The point of departure is a historical review of four decades of string theory within the broader context of six decades of…
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…
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…
Should nature be supersymmetric, then it will be described by Quantum Supergravity at least in some energy regimes. The currently most advanced description of Quantum Supergravity and beyond is Superstring Theory/M-Theory in 10/11…
It is demonstrated how the hierarchy between the gauge coupling unification scale of minimal supersymmetry and the Planck (or string) scale, which resembles in order of magnitude a loop factor, can actually be explained as such in…
The strong coupling dynamics of string theories in dimension $d\geq 4$ are studied. It is argued, among other things, that eleven-dimensional supergravity arises as a low energy limit of the ten-dimensional Type IIA superstring, and that a…