Introduction to String Theory – HS 2013
Description
String theory is an attempt to quantise gravity and unite it with the
other fundamental forces of nature. It combines many interesting topics
of (quantum) field theory in two and higher dimensions. This course
gives an introduction to the basics of string theory.
Content
- Introduction
- Relativistic Point Particle
- Classical Bosonic String
- String Quantisation
- Compactification and T-Duality
- Open Strings and D-Branes
- Conformal Field Theory
- String Scattering
- General Relativity Basics
- String Backgrounds
- Superstrings
- Effective Field Theory
- String Dualites
- String Theory and the Standard Model
- AdS/CFT Correspondence
Literature
- D. Tong, String Theory, lecture notes.
- B. Zwiebach, A First Course in String Theory, Cambridge University Press (2004).
- M.B. Green, J.H. Schwarz, E. Witten, Superstring Theory I, Cambridge University Press (1987).
- J. Polchinski, String Theory I & II, Cambridge University Press (1998).
- R. Blumenhagen, D. Lüst, S. Theisen, Basic Concepts of String Theory, Springer (2012).
- K. Becker, M. Becker, J.H. Schwarz, String Theory and M-Theory: A Modern Introduction, Cambridge University Press (2007).
Credit Requirements
- 20 minute oral examination
- Recommended: 70% of homework problems worked out in reasonable quality
- Recommended: 1 problem solution presented at black board
Materials
Lecture Notes
Problem Sets