String Theory and M-Theory: A Modern Introduction
Cambridge University Press, 12/7/2006
EAN 9780521860697, ISBN10: 0521860695
Hardcover, 756 pages, 25.4 x 18.2 x 3.7 cm
Language: English
String theory is one of the most exciting and challenging areas of modern theoretical physics. This book guides the reader from the basics of string theory to recent developments. It introduces the basics of perturbative string theory, world-sheet supersymmetry, space-time supersymmetry, conformal field theory and the heterotic string, before describing modern developments, including D-branes, string dualities and M-theory. It then covers string geometry and flux compactifications, applications to cosmology and particle physics, black holes in string theory and M-theory, and the microscopic origin of black-hole entropy. It concludes with Matrix theory, the AdS/CFT duality and its generalizations. This book is ideal for graduate students and researchers in modern string theory, and will make an excellent textbook for a one-year course on string theory. It contains over 120 exercises with solutions, and over 200 homework problems with solutions available on a password protected website for lecturers at www.cambridge.org/9780521860697.
1. Introduction
2. The bosonic string
3. Conformal field theory and string interactions
4. Strings with world-sheet supersymmetry
5. Strings with space-time supersymmetry
6. T-duality and D-branes
7. The heterotic string
8. M-theory and string duality
9. String geometry
10. Flux compactifications
11. Black holes in string theory
12. Gauge theory/string theory dualities
References
Index.
'This is the first comprehensive textbook on string theory to also offer an up-to-date picture of the most important theoretical developments of the last decade, including the AdS/CFT correspondence and flux compactifications, which have played a crucial role in modern efforts to make contact with experiment. An excellent resource for graduate students as well as researchers in high-energy physics and cosmology.' Nima Arkani-Hamed, Harvard University