Related papers: A Tip of the TOE
The duality map between gauge theories and strings suggests that when the gauge theory is in the weak coupling regime the dual string tension effectively tends to zero, $\alpha' \to \infty$. This observation of Sundborg and Witten initiates…
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.
We review and refine the concept of a mean-field theory for the study of sandpile models, which are of central importance in the study of self-organized criticality. By considering the simple one-dimensional random walker with an absorbing…
We propose a minimal model for aeolian sand dunes. It combines an analytical description of the turbulent wind velocity field above the dune with a continuum saltation model that allows for saturation transients in the sand flux. The model…
The status of string theory is reviewed, and major recent developments - especially those in going beyond perturbation theory in the string theory and quantum field theory frameworks - are discussed. This analysis helps better understand…
We explore two different problems in string theory in which duality relates an ordinary p-form in one theory to a self-dual (p+1)-form in another theory. One problem involves comparing D4-branes to M5-branes, and the other involves…
In this study, a new theory for the spontaneous formation of sand dunes and related bedforms is proposed. The theory is based on the concept that smaller accumulations of sediment outpace larger ones due to differences in surface-to-volume…
This review article provides the basics and discusses some important applications of thermal field theory, namely the combination of statistical mechanics and relativistic quantum field theory. In a first part the fundamentals are covered:…
A method is presented by which a hidden N=2 superconformal symmetry can be exhibited in a string theory or indeed in a topological conformal field theory. More precisely, we present strong evidence, based on calculations with string…
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…
Duality, the equivalence between seemingly distinct quantum systems, is a curious property that has been known for at least three quarters of a century. In the past two decades it has played a central role in mapping out the structure of…
It is argued that string theory predicts unified field theory rather than general relativity coupled to matter fields. In unified field theory all the objects are geometrical, for strings the Kalb-Ramond matter field is identical to the…
In this opening talk I first describe how we are entering a data-rich era, and what clues we might soon have to physics beyond the SM (on a time scale of several years). Then we turn to a number of the basic issues we hope to explain, and…
This is mainly a brief review of some key achievements in a `hot'' area of theoretical and mathematical physics. The principal aim is to outline the basic structures underlying {\em integrable} quantum field theory models with {\em…
These are notes of a series of lectures on mirror symmetry and topological string theory given at the Mathematical Sciences Center at Tsinghua University. The N=2 superconformal algebra, its deformations and its chiral ring are reviewed. A…
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 search for a theory of quantum gravity faces two great challenges: the incredibly small scales of the Planck length and time, and the possibility that the observed constants of nature are in part the result of random processes. A…
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…
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…
In addition to being a prime candidate for a fundamental unified theory of all interactions in nature, string theory provides a natural setting to understand gauge field theories. This is linked to the concept of "D-branes": extended,…