String Theory

Ian I. Kogan - Michaelmas Term 2002

The aim of the course is to provide an introduction into Group Theory.

Part of the material is covered in the following books:

For general introduction into finite groups:

[ WHAT IS STRING THEORY] by Joseph Polchinski
[TASI LECTURES ON D-BRANES] by Joseph Polchinski ,
[NOTES ON D-BRANES] by Joseph Polchinski, Shyamoli Chaudhuri and Clifford V. Johnson,
[TASI LECTURES ON PERTURBATIVE STRING THEORIES] by Hirosi Ooguri and Zheng Yin

For T-duality

[TARGET SPACE DUALITY IN STRING THEORY, Phys.Rept.244 (1994) 77,] by Amit Giveon, Massimo Porrati and Eliezer Rabinovici;

For 2d gravity and c=1 strings

[String Theory in Two Dimensions] by Igor Klebanov,
[Lectures on 2D gravity and 2D string theory (TASI 1992)] by P. Ginsparg abd Gregory Moore and
[2D Gravity and Random Matrices] by P. Di Francesco, P. Ginsparg and J. Zinn-Justin

For p-branes, black branes, string solitons and string black holes

[LECTURES ON SUPERGRAVITY P-BRANES] by K.S. Stelle,
[STRING SOLITONS, Phys.Rept.259 (1995) 213] by M. J. Duff, Ramzi R. Khuri and J. X. Lu and
[Black Holes in String Theory] by Juan M. Maldacena.

More about different aspects of D-branes (BPS and Non-BPS, gauge fields, D-branes quantum numbers and K-theory)

[LECTURES ON D-BRANES, GAUGE THEORY AND M(ATRICES)] by Washington Taylor, IV,
[BRANE DYNAMICS AND GAUGE THEORY] by Amit Giveon and David Kutasov,
[LECTURES ON D-BRANES] by Constantin P. Bachas,
[Non-BPS States and Branes in String Theory] by Ashoke Sen and
[Constructing D-Branes from K-Theory] by Kasper Olsen and Richard J. Szabo

For String Dualities and M-theory

[ Four Lectures on M-theory] by P. K. Townsend,
[Lectures on Superstring and M Theory Dualities] by John H. Schwarz,
[A Layman's Guide to M-theory] by M.J. Duff and
[Itroduction to M Theory] by Miao Li.

For Matrix Strings, M(atrix) Theory and the Light Cone

[Review of Matrix Theory] by Daniela Bigatti and Leonard Susskind,
[Matrix Theory] by Tom Banks,
[M(atrix) Theory : a Pedagogical Introduction] by Adel Bilal and
[M-Theory and the Light Cone] by Joseph Polchinski

For AdS/CFT correspondence

[Large N Field Theories, String Theory and Gravity] by O. Aharony, S. S. Gubser, J. Maldacena, H. Ooguri and Y. Oz

This is the preliminary programm.

Part 1. Finite groups

Lecture 1.

Lecture 2.

Lecture 3.

Lecture 4.

Lecture 5.

Lecture 6.

Lecture 7.

Lecture 8.

Part 2.

Lecture 9.

Lecture 10.

Lecture 11.

Part 3.

Lecture 12.

Lecture 14.

Lecture 15.

Lecture 16.

These lectures are very condenced, so you supposed to do a lot of work on your own ! There will be some problem classes (arranged later) and some extra seminars (hopefully) next term.