The Birth of String Theory
Cambridge University Press, 4/12/2012
EAN 9780521197908, ISBN10: 0521197902
Hardcover, 664 pages, 24.4 x 17 x 3.7 cm
Language: English
String theory is currently the best candidate for a unified theory of all forces and all forms of matter in nature. As such, it has become a focal point for physical and philosophical discussions. This unique book explores the history of the theory's early stages of development, as told by its main protagonists. The book journeys from the first version of the theory (the so-called dual resonance model) in the late sixties, as an attempt to describe the physics of strong interactions outside the framework of quantum field theory, to its reinterpretation around the mid-seventies as a quantum theory of gravity unified with the other forces, and its successive developments up to the superstring revolution in 1984. Providing important background information to current debates on the theory, this book is essential reading for students and researchers in physics, as well as historians and philosophers of science.
Part I. Overview
1. Introduction and synopsis
2. Rise and fall of the hadronic string G. Veneziano
3. Gravity, unification, and the superstring J. H. Schwarz
4. Early string theory as a challenging case study for philosophers E. Castellani
Part II. The Prehistory
The Analytic S-Matrix
5. Introduction to Part II
6. Particle theory in the sixties
from current algebra to the Veneziano amplitude M. Ademollo
7. The path to the Veneziano model H. R. Rubinstein
8. Two-component duality and strings P. G. O. Freund
9. Note on the prehistory of string theory M. Gell-Mann
Part III. The Dual Resonance Model
10. Introduction to Part III
11. From the S-matrix to string theory P. Di Vecchia
12. Reminiscence on the birth of string theory J. A. Shapiro
13. Personal recollections D. Amati
14. Early string theory at Fermilab and Rutgers L. Clavelli
15. Dual amplitudes in higher dimensions
a personal view C. Lovelace
16. Personal recollections on dual models R. Musto
17. Remembering the 'supergroup' collaboration F. Nicodemi
18. The '3-Reggeon vertex' S. Sciuto
Part IV. The String
19. Introduction to Part IV
20. From dual models to relativistic strings P. Goddard
21. The first string theory
personal recollections L. Susskind
22. The string picture of the Veneziano model H. B. Nielsen
23. From the S-matrix to string theory Y. Nambu
24. The analogue model for string amplitudes D. B. Fairlie
25. Factorization in dual models and functional integration in string theory S. Mandelstam
26. The hadronic origins of string theory R. C. Brower
Part V. Beyond the Bosonic String
27. Introduction to Part V
28. From dual fermion to superstring D. I. Olive
29. Dual models with fermions
memoirs of an early string theorist P. Ramond
30. Personal recollections A. Neveu
31. Aspects of fermionic dual models E. Corrigan
32. The dual quark models K. Bardakci and M. B. Halpern
33. Remembering the dawn of relativistic strings J.-L. Gervais
34. Early string theory in Cambridge
personal recollections C. Montonen
Part VI. The Superstring
35. Introduction to Part VI
36. Supersymmetry in string theory F. Gliozzi
37. Gravity from strings
personal reminiscences of early developments T. Yoneya
38. From the Nambu–Goto to the ÃÆ’-model action L. Brink
39. Locally supersymmetric action for superstring P. Di Vecchia
40. Personal recollections E. Cremmer
41. The scientific contributions of Joël Scherk J. H. Schwarz
Part VII. Preparing the String Renaissance
42. Introduction to Part VII
43. From strings to superstrings
a personal perspective M. B. Green
44. Quarks, strings and beyond A. M. Polyakov
45. The rise of the superstring theory A. Cappelli and F. Colomo
Appendices
Index.