880 STRING THEORY
Instructor: Samir D. Mathur (Office: M2026 Physics Research Building)
Time: Spring 2007, Mon-Wed 9.30-11.18, in Smith Seminar Room, Physics Research Building
Text: Becker, Becker, Schwarz : String theory and M theory (Cambridge)
The classical string
Solving for the string motion
Virasoro algebra (updated)
Understanding the Hilbert space (plus exercises, updated)
Quantizing the open string (updated)
The light cone gauge
The transfer matrix (updated)
Some CFT tools (updated)
Fermions (updated)
The 1-loop path integral (updated)
There are two exercises at the end of the notes. These are to be done and submitted by Friday April 4.
The Veneziano amplitude (updated)
The superstring (updated)
Note: There will be class Friday April 18 ... there will be no class Monday April 21.
Notes on general Relativity and String theory:
The idea behind General Relativity
Metric and connection
Geodesics and curvature
Einstein equations
The Energy-Momentum tensor
Cosmological expansion
The metric for branes in string theory
Varying the determinant of the metric
The Bianchi identity
Dimensonal reduction: linear analysis
Nonlinear reduction, scaling the metric, T-duality
Dimensional reduction with nonzero gauge field
The KK monopole and the D6 brane of string theory
The metric of massless particles the D0 brane of string theory
Electric-magnetic duality
T and S dualities, and the brane content of
string theory
Duality Chasing
Fixing the constants in string theory
Inflation
Notes on fields
Notes on Fields
Notes on field theory
Notes for Classical Mechanics 821
The virial theorem
Rotations
Small oscillations
Poisson brackets
Hamilton-Jacobi equation
Green's functions