Courses:

String Theory for Undergraduates >> Content Detail



Study Materials



Readings

Amazon logo Help support MIT OpenCourseWare by shopping at Amazon.com! MIT OpenCourseWare offers direct links to Amazon.com to purchase the books cited in this course. Click on the Amazon logo to the left of any citation and purchase the book from Amazon.com, and MIT OpenCourseWare will receive up to 10% of all purchases you make. Your support will enable MIT to continue offering open access to MIT courses.



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

 








© 2009-2020 HigherEdSpace.com, All Rights Reserved.
Higher Ed Space ® is a registered trademark of AmeriCareers LLC.