相关论文: Introduction to Differential W-Geometry

Lectures given at the Trieste Summer School, 1992. These notes are an update of my review article "Classical and Quantum W-Gravity", preprint QMW-92-1, published in in "Strings and Symmetries 1991", with some extra material on W-geometry,…

Using the differential equation approach to W-algebras, we discuss the inclusion of punctures in W-string theory. The key result is the existence of different kinds of punctures in W-strings. This is similar to the NS and R punctures…

After reviewing some aspects of gravity in two dimensions, it is shown that non-trivial embeddings of sl(2) in a semi-simple (super) Lie algebra give rise to a very large class of extensions of 2D gravity. The induced action is constructed…

This contribution, aimed mostly at experimental particle physicists, reviews some of the main ideas and results of String Theory in a non-technical language. It originates from the talks presented by the authors at the Electro-Weak session…

We report work done with T. Jayaraman (hep-th/9405146) in this talk. In a recent paper, Hitchin introduced generalisations of the Teichmuller space of Riemann surfaces. We relate these spaces to the Teichmuller spaces of W-gravity. We show…

These lectures briefly review our current understanding of classical and quantum gravity in three spacetime dimensions, concentrating on the quantum mechanics of closed universes and the (2+1)-dimensional black hole. Three formulations of…

We present a review of the status of $W$ string theories, their physical spectra, and their interactions. (Based on review talks given at the Trieste Spring Workshop, and the Strings 93 meeting at Berkeley, May 1993.)

Emphasis is on 2d target space (c=1 coupled to gravity). Contents: 0. Introduction, Overview, and Purpose 1. Loops and States in Conformal Field Theory 2. 2D Euclidean Quantum Gravity I: Path Integral Approach 3. Brief Review of the…

We try to draw lessons for higher dimensions from the string representations recently derived for large $N$ Yang-Mills theory by Gross and Taylor, Kostov, and others, and call attention to three characteristics that should be expected of a…

After an overview of the physical motivations for studying quantum gravity, we reprint THE FORMAL STRUCTURE OF QUANTUM GRAVITY, i.e. the 1978 Cargese Lectures by Professor B.S. DeWitt, with kind permission of Springer. The reader is…

This is a non-technical talk given at the Sixth Marcel Grossman Meeting on General Relativity, Kyoto, Japan in June 1991. Some developments in string theory over the last six years are discussed together with their qualitative implications…

The first part of these notes is a self-contained introduction to generalized complex geometry. It is intended as a `user manual' for tools used in the study of supersymmetric backgrounds of supergravity. In the second part we review some…

We conjecture that $W$ gravity can be interpreted as the gauge theory of $\phi$ diffeomorphisms in the space of dimensionally-reduced $D=2+2$ $SU^*(\infty)$ Yang-Mills instantons. These $\phi$ diffeomorphisms preserve a volume-three form…

These are introductory lectures for a general audience that give an overview of the subject of matrix models and their application to random surfaces, 2d gravity, and string theory. They are intentionally 1.5 years out of date. 0. Canned…

The thesis divides into three parts. The first is devoted to a careful study of very convenient superspace conventions which are a basic tool for the second part. A theorem is formulated that gives a clear statement about when the signs of…

These are lecture notes of lectures presented at the 1993 Trieste Summer School, dealing with two classes of two-dimensional field theories, (topological) Yang-Mills theory and the G/G gauged WZW model. The aim of these lectures is to…

String theory provides the only consistent framework so far that unifies all interactions including gravity. We discuss gravity and cosmology in string theory. Conventional notions from general relativity like geometry, topology etc. are…

The present paper is devoted to various objects of the infinite dimensional W-geometry of a second quantized free string. Our purpose is to include the W-symmetries into the general infinite dimensional geometrical picture related to the…

Generalized complex geometry is an example of a powerful formalism to attempt the construction of a language adequate to string theory. With the remarkable property of unifying symplectic and complex manifolds as special cases of a broader…

Talk given at the 26th Workshop: ``From Superstrings to Supergravity", Erice - Sicily, 5-12 December 1992. We review the superconformal properties of 2d matter coupled to gravity, and extensions thereof. Focusing on topological strings, we…