Ebook: Basic Concepts of String Theory

The purpose of this book is to thoroughly prepare the reader for research in string theory at an intermediate level. As such it is not a compendium of results but intended as textbook in the sense that most of the material is organized in a pedagogical and self-contained fashion.

Beyond the basics, a number of more advanced topics are introduced, such as conformal field theory, superstrings and string dualities - the text does not cover applications to black hole physics and cosmology, nor strings theory at finite temperatures.

End-of-chapter references have been added to guide the reader wishing to pursue further studies or to start research in well-defined topics covered by this book.

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The purpose of this book is to thoroughly prepare the reader for research in string theory. It is intended as a textbook in the sense that, starting from the basics, the material is presented in a pedagogical and self-contained fashion. The emphasis is on the world-sheet perspective of closed strings and of open strings ending on D-branes, where two-dimensional conformal field theory is the main tool. Compactifications of string theory, with and without fluxes, and string dualities are also discussed from the space-time point of view, i.e. in geometric language. End-of-chapter references have been added to guide the reader intending to pursue further studies or to start research in the topics covered by this book.

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The purpose of this book is to thoroughly prepare the reader for research in string theory. It is intended as a textbook in the sense that, starting from the basics, the material is presented in a pedagogical and self-contained fashion. The emphasis is on the world-sheet perspective of closed strings and of open strings ending on D-branes, where two-dimensional conformal field theory is the main tool. Compactifications of string theory, with and without fluxes, and string dualities are also discussed from the space-time point of view, i.e. in geometric language. End-of-chapter references have been added to guide the reader intending to pursue further studies or to start research in the topics covered by this book.

Content:
Front Matter....Pages i-xii
Introduction....Pages 1-5
The Classical Bosonic String....Pages 7-33
The Quantized Bosonic String....Pages 35-62
Introduction to Conformal Field Theory....Pages 63-106
Parametrization Ghosts and BRST Quantization....Pages 107-119
String Perturbation Theory and One-Loop Amplitudes....Pages 121-174
The Classical Fermionic String....Pages 175-194
The Quantized Fermionic String....Pages 195-221
Superstrings....Pages 223-261
Toroidal Compactifications: 10-Dimensional Heterotic String....Pages 263-320
Conformal Field Theory II: Lattices and Ka?-Moody Algebras....Pages 321-353
Conformal Field Theory III: Superconformal Field Theory....Pages 355-390
Covariant Vertex Operators, BRST and Covariant Lattices....Pages 391-426
String Compactifications....Pages 427-520
CFTs for Type II and Heterotic String Vacua....Pages 521-583
String Scattering Amplitudes and Low Energy Effective Field Theory....Pages 585-639
Compactifications of the Type II Superstring with D-branes and Fluxes....Pages 641-674
String Dualities and M-Theory....Pages 675-774
Back Matter....Pages 775-782

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The purpose of this book is to thoroughly prepare the reader for research in string theory. It is intended as a textbook in the sense that, starting from the basics, the material is presented in a pedagogical and self-contained fashion. The emphasis is on the world-sheet perspective of closed strings and of open strings ending on D-branes, where two-dimensional conformal field theory is the main tool. Compactifications of string theory, with and without fluxes, and string dualities are also discussed from the space-time point of view, i.e. in geometric language. End-of-chapter references have been added to guide the reader intending to pursue further studies or to start research in the topics covered by this book.

Content:
Front Matter....Pages i-xii
Introduction....Pages 1-5
The Classical Bosonic String....Pages 7-33
The Quantized Bosonic String....Pages 35-62
Introduction to Conformal Field Theory....Pages 63-106
Parametrization Ghosts and BRST Quantization....Pages 107-119
String Perturbation Theory and One-Loop Amplitudes....Pages 121-174
The Classical Fermionic String....Pages 175-194
The Quantized Fermionic String....Pages 195-221
Superstrings....Pages 223-261
Toroidal Compactifications: 10-Dimensional Heterotic String....Pages 263-320
Conformal Field Theory II: Lattices and Ka?-Moody Algebras....Pages 321-353
Conformal Field Theory III: Superconformal Field Theory....Pages 355-390
Covariant Vertex Operators, BRST and Covariant Lattices....Pages 391-426
String Compactifications....Pages 427-520
CFTs for Type II and Heterotic String Vacua....Pages 521-583
String Scattering Amplitudes and Low Energy Effective Field Theory....Pages 585-639
Compactifications of the Type II Superstring with D-branes and Fluxes....Pages 641-674
String Dualities and M-Theory....Pages 675-774
Back Matter....Pages 775-782
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