Plan for 8.821, String Theoryas of 11.29.07. with relevant reading material.1. overview. (Joe 1.1, 3.1, try GSW ch 1, Uranga’s overview lectures)2. classical bosonic strings (mostly GSW 2.1, Joe 1.2)3. why and how do we impose virasoro constraints? (some of GSW 2.2)solve them using lightcone gauge quantization.find th e s pectrum of the open string. (Joe 1.3-4, GSW 2.3)use zeta-function regularization to find the critical dimension at which the light cone quanti-zation gives a lorentz-invariant spectrum4. closed-string spectrum in LCGhigh-energy density of states (GSW p. 117 et seq., Joe vI p. 320-321.)there is more to life than 26-d fl at space: toru s compactification (the non-CFT parts of Joe8.1-8.3, Uranga’s lecture 3)the spectrum of the bosonic string on a circleenhanced gauge symmetry at R =√α′T-duality5. how do the spacetime EoM arise from 2d perspective and why?strings in background fields (effect of dilaton, s tr ings are charged under Bµν, beta functions)[GSW 3.1, 3.4, Joe ch 3.2, 3.3, 3.7]6. gauge fixing of polyakov path integral (to discover another example of a 2d CFT) [Joe §3.3,GSW §3.1]systematic discussion of euclidean 2d CFT, part 1 [Peskin’s lectures linked on webpage (§2,3.1, 4.3), Joe Ch. 2]7. CFT, p art 2Ginsparg CFT notes §1,2,3,6. Try §4. Joe, Chapter 2, again. GSW, Ch apter 3 (note thatthe CFT is hidden in §3.2, entitled ‘BRST Quantization’).8. In what sense is c 6= 26 a conformal anomaly? [Joe §3.4, Peskin TASI lectures p. 19 et seq.]the bc ghost system as a CFT. [Joe 2.5, 2.7]9. BRST quantization [Joe 4.2-4, GSW 3.2, Peskin §4-5]Ghost zeromodes and the measure for moduli [Peskin §4-5, Joe ch 5],10. where to put the ghosts [JP §5.3]closed-string tree level amplitudes [JP §6.1,2,3,6]11. one loop amplitudes, modular invariance [Peskin §8.1,2, JP ch 7, Uranga lecture 5]12. open strings, D-branes, worldvolume gauge theory [JP ch 6.2,4,5, 8.6-8.7, JP, ’TASI lectureson D-branes,’ hep-th/9611050 §1,2.]13. factorization of the annulus, D-brane tension. [JP 7.4, 8.7, hep-th/9611050 §2.]14. superstring worldsheet technology [JP ch 10, Peskin §3.2, 7.1, Uranga lecture 7, GSW ch 4.]115. superstring spectrum [Lust and Theisen ch 7, 8.]16. spin str uctures and GSO [JP ch 10.5-7, Lust and Theisen ch 9.]; heterosis [JP ch 11.]17. bosonization, Ramond vertex operators. [JP 10.2,3]18. the superconformal ghosts save the day, superstring scattering. [JP 10.4, 12.3-5]19. D-branes of the superstring. [JP chapter 13, 14.4; hep-th/9611050 §3,4, see also 5.]20. orientifolds and type I. [JP v. I pp. 189-192, 226-229, §8.8, v. II pp. 29-31, §10.8, §13.2;Uranga, chapter 10.]21. tadpole cancellation and anomalies. [JP §10.8, Uranga chapter 10, JP §12.1,2.]22. Calabi-Yau compactification. [GSW chapter 15.]23. supersymmetric sigma m odels and the de r ham complex [Witten, NPB202(1982) 253, §10]heterotic on CY, unification. [GSW chapter 14, 16, 15.6]24. the conifold and topology change.25. AdS/CFT26. flux vacua, throats, the potential for moduli27. orbifolds28. GLSM29. black hole microstates.30. noncritical
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