相关论文: Strings and Planck Oscillators

We show that two-dimensional SO(N) and Sp(N) Yang-Mills theories without fermions can be interpreted as closed string theories. The terms in the 1/N expansion of the partition function on an orientable or nonorientable manifold M can be…

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…

String and membrane dynamics may be unified into a theory of 2+2 dimensional self-dual world-volumes living in a 10+2 dimensional target space. Some of the vacua of this M-theory are described by the N=(2,1) heterotic string, whose target…

We provide a pedagogical overview of inflation in string theory. Our theme is the sensitivity of inflation to Planck-scale physics, which we argue provides both the primary motivation and the central theoretical challenge for the subject.…

I consider an algebraic construction of creation and annihilation operators for superstring and p-brane parton models. The result can be interpreted as a realisation of multiple quantisation and suggests a relationship between quantisation…

We give a brief history of the passage from strings to branes and we review some aspects of the following topics in M-theory: (a) an extended brane scan, (b) superembedding approach to the dynamics of superbranes and (c) supermembranes in…

The partition function of two dimensional QCD on a Riemann surface of area $A$ is expanded as a power series in $1/N$ and $A$. It is shown that the coefficients of this expansion are precisely determined by a sum over maps from a two…

An attempt to study recently observed Pentaquark baryons is performed in the dual string theory of QCD. Mass formulae for Pentaquark baryons are naively estimated in the Maldacena's prototype model for supersymmetric QCD and a more…

We consider grand unified theories with superconducting cosmic strings and which admit the mechanism for generating primordial magnetic fields recently discussed by Vachaspati. We show that these models are severely constrained by…

We present four infinite series of new quantum theories with super-Poincare symmetry in six dimensions, which are not local quantum field theories. They have string like excitations but the string coupling is of order one. Compactifying…

Following Dyson's analogy between the quantum field theory and the 19th-century chemistry-both explain how but not why-one could also establish an analogy between atomic physics and string theory. Atomic physics was needed to answer the…

The string theory introduced in early 1971 by Ramond, Neveu, and myself has two-dimensional world-sheet supersymmetry. This theory, developed at about the same time that Golfand and Likhtman constructed the four-dimensional super-Poincar\'e…

Duality symmetries in M--theory and string theory are reviewed, with particular emphasis on the way in which string winding modes and brane wrapping modes can lead to new spatial dimensions. Brane world-volumes wrapping around Lorentzian…

Starting with a study of the cosmological solution to the Einstein equations for the internal spacetime of an extreme supermassive cosmic string kink, and by evaluating the probability measure for the formation of such a kink in…

For three-dimensional ABJ(M) theories and $\mathcal N=4$ Chern-Simons-matter quiver theories, we construct two sets of 1/2 BPS Wilson loop operators by applying the Higgsing procedure along independent directions of the moduli space, and…

Higher-order invariants and their role as possible counterterms for supergravity theories are reviewed. It is argued that N=8 supergravity will diverge at 5 loops. The construction of $R^4$ superinvariants in string and M-theory is…

String theory is accused by some of its critics to be a purely abstract mathematical discipline, having lost the contact to the simple yet deeply rooted questions which physics provided until the beginning of this century. We argue that, in…

With our current level of understanding, the problem of making string theory predictions is not one of "solving" the theory, but rather of trying to determine whether there are any generic expectations. Within this context, we discuss what…

A brief review of the status of duality symmetries in string theory is presented. The evidence is accumulating rapidly that an enormous group of duality symmetries, including perturbative T dualities and non-perturbative S-dualities,…

In spite of its great phenomenological success, current models of scalar field-driven inflation suffer from important unresolved conceptual issues. New fundamental physics will be required to address these questions. String theory is a…