| ... Is this course for me? |
Familiarity with physics undergraduate background material will be assumed; this includes third-year electromagnetism and advanced/fourth-year quantum mechanics.
Developing field theoretic intuition alongside string theoretic intuition should be rewarding - and save you time.
In an ideal world, I would like to be able to demand that everyone taking my string theory course also takes quantum field theory. But this is the real world; I realize that, for at least a few students, co-taking QFT is not realistic. Nonetheless I strongly recommend that all UofT Physics students taking my course also take QFT: it simply would not make sense not to do so.
1. Students who want to actually learn the material in this course
should enrol, i.e. take it for credit 
.
2. If you think you probably want to take this course, but are not sure, then you are welcome to discuss it with me. Please note that I can't do course e-mail; my office phone number is +1 416 978 3911.
3. Mathematics students unsure of the suitability of this course
for them should should
(a) take advice from Prof. Kentaro Hori (who
is a mathematical string theorist, familiar with the policies and
practices of both the UofT Physics and Math Departments),
(b) look through the required textbook
and
(c) try coming to the first few lectures.
These three
sources of information should help you figure out whether you can pass
this course with appropriate effort.
4. Auditors are welcome, but will be expected to have the same
background as students taking the course for credit. That is, if they
want to ask questions in class .
5. This course has never been taught before at the University of
Toronto. First-semester graduate courses in string theory are rare
worldwide. So this course will, to some extent, be an experiment. I
hope that the many graduate students interested in string theory will
be up to the challenge of being "guinea pigs" 
along with me. Active student participation will
help determine how much material I can teach in the one-semester
(26-hour) timeframe.