Topic schedule post-break

20080227 (W): Building the superstring state space in light-front gauge. Closed superstrings. Open superstrings. Neveu-Schwarz (NS) and Ramond (R) sectors. Dilaton, Kalb-Ramond field. [Z.Ch.13]

20080229 (F): The gamma matrix algebra and Spinors in diverse dimensions D. The Fock space representation. Dimensionality of spinors 2^[D/2]. [AWP notes; Polchinski appendix]

20080305 (W): Kappa symmetry, i.e., how to formulate the manifestly supersymmetric string theory action principle in light-front gauge. [GSW Ch.5.1,5.2]

20080307 (F): Parallel Dp-branes and the mass of open strings stretched between them [Z.Ch.14]

20080312 (W): Parallel Dp-branes and Dq-branes and the mass of open strings stretched between them. A beginning introduction to T-duality as (a) worldsheet Hodge duality on X-derivatives and (b) something that flips Dirichlet and Neumann boundary conditions on open strings while switching Kaluza-Klein modes with winding modes.

20080314 (F): Circle compactification and T-duality for closed and open strings. Enhanced SU(2) gauge symmetry at the self-dual radius. [Z.Ch.16-18, and AWP reviews]

20080319 (W): The string density of states and the Hagedorn phenomenon; Why strings carry NS-NS B-field charge; visualizing strings ending on D-branes. [ZZ15.1,15.2]

20080326 (W) : Dimensional reduction and the Kaluza-Klein procedure. Superstring duality: S-duality, M theory, the deerskin diagram. BPS states. The physical role of wrapped D-branes. [AWP reviews and notes]

20080328 (F): The Dark Side of String Theory: spacetime warpage caused by N>>1 D-branes. D-brane geometries – BPS and non-BPS. A brief introduction to the black hole entropy computation industry.

[N.B. all futures dates are tentative]

20080331 (M): The geometry of D3-branes and a brief introduction to the AdS/CFT Correspondence. [AWP reviews and notes]

20080402 (W) and 20080404 (F): Superstring cosmology: D-braney models of inflation. Flaws of Ekpyrotic Cosmology models. Why it’s so hard to produce tensor modes from string theory. … [AWP notes]

20080409 (W) and 20080411 (F): Derivation of the famous beta function equations of string theory.

[Study period: 20080414 - 20080418]

[Exam period: 20080421 - 20080509]