Author Archives: kiwinerd

Final presentations

Posted on 2008/04/18 by kiwinerd

Hi everyone, Just a reminder about our upcoming final project presentations, taking place in MP1115 from 1-5:30pm on Thursday 24th April this upcoming week. Students have asked what presentation formats are acceptable. Any of the following canonical formats is fine: … Continue reading →

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Lecture 07 and 09 Apr

Posted on 2008/04/07 by kiwinerd

This is how to derive the beta functions of string theory sigma model!! P.S.: if you’re interested in the Background Field Method as it relates to one-loop Yang-Mills beta functions and asymptotic freedom of QCD, see Sections 16.6 and 16.7 … Continue reading →

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Homework 5

Posted on 2008/04/04 by kiwinerd

This is due in two weeks – or whenever you get to it; but please do hand it in before the date of the presentations. That way everyone’s grades will be filed on-time. N.B.: querying the prof about homework questions … Continue reading →

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LHC nonsense

Posted on 2008/04/04 by kiwinerd

In amongst all the gravitas of the end of the semester, here’s a bit of levity… From the inimitable Bob Park (http://bobpark.org/) we see a spirited defence of the LHC in the face of a mighty stupid lawsuit from some … Continue reading →

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Lecture 04 Apr

Posted on 2008/04/04 by kiwinerd

Today we discussed the String Theory Landscape. The Landscape – what’s all the fuss about? Foci for today: Weinberg PRL on cosmological constant and anthropic principle Is there an anthropic bound on cosmological constant (i.e. a “prior” that we exist)? … Continue reading →

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Lecture 02 Apr

Posted on 2008/04/03 by kiwinerd

Here are the files I lectured from today: Moving D-brane separation as toy model of scalar field involved in inflation (from my TASI lectures) Tracking fluctuations as well as motions (co-written with O.Saremi and L.Kofman)

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Exam date

Posted on 2008/03/31 by kiwinerd

Hi everyone, Today we agreed that our class final exam will be held 1-5pm on Thursday 24th April. Each student will have a 30-minute envelope: 25 minute speech and 5 minutes Q&A. We will have four talks, a short break, … Continue reading →

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Lecture 31 Mar

Posted on 2008/03/29 by kiwinerd

Today we give an introduction to the AdS/CFT Correspondence. This is one of the most important advances in string or particle theory in the past decade-plus!  (Intro to AdS/CFT: p=3 and other cases)

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Lecture 28 Mar

Posted on 2008/03/27 by kiwinerd

Today we discuss BPS M-brane and Dp-brane geometries. We look at where these classical geometries become unreliable, by examining the two loop counting parameters of string theory: (a) the spacetime curvature in string units and (b) the [exponential of the] … Continue reading →

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Final exam topics

Posted on 2008/03/27 by kiwinerd

The final presentations will take place from 1pm until approximately 5:30pm on Thursday 24th April in MP1115 (our usual room). Final project presentations Jean-Michel: Electromagnetic fields on D-branes Simon: Born-Infeld electrodynamics Alex: The Standard Model on intersecting D-branes Alexey: E8xE8 … Continue reading →

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