Introduction to Strings and Branes

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Peter WestCambridge University Press, 1/1/2012EAN 9780521817479, ISBN10: 0521817471Hardcover, 722 pages, 25.4 x 17.8 x 3.6 cmLanguage: EnglishSupersymmetry, strings and branes are believed to be the essential ingredients in a single unified consistent theory of physics. This book gives a detailed, step-by-step introduction to the theoretical foundations required for research in strings and branes. After a study of the different formulations of the bosonic and supersymmetric point particles, the classical and quantum bosonic and supersymmetric string theories are presented. This book includes accounts of brane dynamics and D-branes and the T, S and U duality symmetries of string theory. The historical derivation of string theory is given as well as the sum over the world-sheet approach to the interacting string. More advanced topics include string field theory and Kac–Moody symmetries. The book contains pedagogical accounts of conformal quantum field theory, supergravity theories, Clifford algebras and spinors, and Lie algebras. It is essential reading for graduate students and researchers wanting to learn strings and branes.Preface1. The point particle2. The classical bosonic string3. The quantum bosonic string4. The light-cone approach5. Clifford algebras and spinors6. The classical superstring7. The quantum superstring8. Conformal symmetry and two-dimensional field theory9. Conformal symmetry and string theory10. String compactification and the heterotic string11. The physical states and the no ghost theorem12. Gauge covariant string theory13. Supergravity theories in 4, 10 and 11 dimensions14. Brane dynamics15. D-branes16. String theory and Lie algebras17. Symmetries of string theory18. String interactionsAppendicesIndex. Show more