Logo
ScienceStack
Table of Contents
Fetching ...
Sign In

Introduction to Non-perturbative String Theory

Elias Kiritsis

Abstract

These are a set of lectures presented at the CERN-La Plata-Santiago de Compostella School of Physics, La Plata, May 1997. A brief introduction to the non-perturbative structure of string theory is presented. Various non-perturbative dualities in ten and six dimensions as well as D-branes are discussed.

Introduction to Non-perturbative String Theory

Abstract

These are a set of lectures presented at the CERN-La Plata-Santiago de Compostella School of Physics, La Plata, May 1997. A brief introduction to the non-perturbative structure of string theory is presented. Various non-perturbative dualities in ten and six dimensions as well as D-branes are discussed.

Paper Structure

This paper contains 13 sections, 361 equations, 4 figures.

Table of Contents

  1. Non-perturbative string dualities: a foreword
  2. Antisymmetric tensors and p-branes .
  3. BPS states and bounds
  4. Massless RR states
  5. Heterotic/Type-I duality in ten dimensions.
  6. Type-IIA versus M-theory.
  7. M-theory and the E$_8\times$E$_8$ heterotic string.
  8. Self-duality of the type-IIB string.
  9. D-branes are the type-II RR charged states.
  10. D-brane actions
  11. Heterotic/Type-II duality in six and four Dimensions
  12. Helicity string partition functions and multiplicities of BPS states
  13. Outlook

Figures (4)

  • Figure 1: The Web of duality symmetries between string theories. Broken lines correspond to perturbative duality connections. Type-IIB in ten dimensions is supposed to be self-dual under SL(2,$\hbox{Z}$).
  • Figure 2: A unique theory and its various limits.
  • Figure 3: Open string fluctuations of a D1-brane
  • Figure 4: D-branes interacting via the tree-level exchange of a closed string.