Courses:

String Theory for Undergraduates >> Content Detail



Study Materials



Readings

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Textbook


The required text for this class is:

Amazon logo Zwiebach, Barton. A First Course in String Theory. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 2004. ISBN: 9780521831437.

All readings are assigned out of this book.



Additional Reference


A new readable book at the graduate level is:

Amazon logo Becker, Katrin, Melanie Becker, and John H. Schwarz. String Theory and M-Theory: A Modern Introduction. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2007. ISBN: 9780521860697.


SES #TOPICSREADINGS
1

Announcements, introduction

Lorentz transformations

Light-cone coordinates

Sections 2.1-2.3
2

Energy and momentum

Compact dimensions, orbifolds

Quantum mechanics and the square well

Sections 2.4-2.9
3

Relativistic electrodynamics

Gauss' law

Gravitation and Planck's length

Sections 3.1-3.6
4Gravitational potentials, compactification, and large extra dimensionsSections 3.7-3.10
5Nonrelativistic strings and Lagrangian mechanicsChapter 4
6The relativistic point particle: Action, reparametrizations, and equations of motionChapter 5
7Area formula for spatial surfaces
8Area formula for spatial surfaces (cont.)
9Change of variables
10Relativistic strings: Nambu-Goto action, equations of motion and boundary conditionsSections 6.1-6.5
11

Static gauge, transverse velocity, and string action

Motion of free open string endpoints

Sections 6.6-6.9
12

The sigma-parametrization

Equations of motion and virasoro constraints

General motion for open strings

Rotating open strings

Chapter 7
Test 1
13

Periodicity conditions for the motion of closed strings

The formation of cusps

Conserved currents in E&M

Conserved charges in lagrangian mechanics

14

Momentum charges for the string

Lorentz charges for the strings

Angular momentum of the rotating string

Discuss alpha' and the string length l_s

General gauges: fixing tau and natural units

Sections 8.4-8.6, 9.1
15Solution of the open string motion in the light-cone gaugeSections 9.2-9.4
16Light-cone fields and particlesSections 9.5-10.1
17Light-cone fields and particles (cont.)Sections 10.2-10.4
18Open strings
19

Critical dimension

Constructing the state space

Tachyons

20Closed strings
21

Wrap-up of closed strings

Superstrings

Test 2
22Superstrings (cont.)
23

Closed strings

Heterotic string theory

24

Dp-branes

Parallel Dp's

25Dp-branes (cont.)
26Final exam review
Final exam week

 








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