String theory and M-Theory

Аннотация

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 very recent developments at the frontier of string theory research. The book begins with the basics of perturbative string theory, world-sheet supersymmetry, space-time supersymmetry, conformal field theory and the heterotic string, and moves on to describe modern developments, including D-branes, string dualities and M-theory. It then covers string geometry (including Calabi–Yau compactifications) and flux compactifications, and applications to cosmology and particle physics. One chapter is dedicated to black holes in string theory and M-theory, and the microscopic origin of black-hole entropy. The book concludes by presenting matrix theory, AdS/CFT duality and its generalizations. This book is ideal for graduate students studyingmodern string theory, and it will make an excellent textbook for a 1-year course on string theory. It will also be useful for researchers interested in learning about developments in modern string theory. The book contains about 120 solved exercises, as well as about 200 homework problems, solutions of which are available for lecturers on a password protected website at www.cambridge.org/9780521860697.