Introduction to Superstrings and M-Theory

by Michio Kaku

Overview

Superstrings - provocative, controversial, possibly untestable, but unarguably one of the most interesting and active areas of research in current physics. Called by some, "the theory of everything", superstrings may solve a problem which has eluded physicists for the past 50 years - the final unification of the two great theories of the twentieth century, general relativity and quantum field theory. Now, here is a course-tested comprehensive introductory graduate text on superstrings which stresses the most current areas of interest, not covered in other presentation, including: - string field theory - multi loops - Teichmueller spaces - conformal field theory - four-dimensional strings The book begins with a simple discussion of point particle theory, and uses the Feynman path integral technique to unify the presentation of superstrings. Prerequisites are an aquaintance with quantum mechanics and relativity. This second edition has been revised and updated throughout.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780387985893
Publisher:	Springer New York
Publication date:	12/07/1998
Series:	Graduate Texts in Contemporary Physics
Edition description:	2nd ed. 1999
Pages:	587
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.36(d)

Table of Contents

I First Quantization and Path Integrals.- 1 Path Integrals and Point Particles.- 2 Nambu—Goto Strings.- 3 Superstrings.- 4 Conformal Field Theory and Kac-Moody Algebras.- 5 Multiloops and Teichmüller Spaces.- II Second Quantization and the Search for Geometry.- 6 Light Cone Field Theory.- 7 BRST Field Theory.- III Phenomenology and Model Building.- 8 Anomalies and the Atiyah—Singer Theorem.- 9 Heterotic Strings and Compactification.- 10 Calabi—Yau Spaces and Orbifolds.- IV M-Theory.- 11 M-Theory and Duality.- 12 Compactifications and BPS States.- 13Solitons, D-Branes, and Black Holes.- A.1 A Brief Introduction to Group Theory.- A.2 A Brief Introduction to General Relativity.- A.3 A Brief Introduction to the Theory of Forms.- A.4 A Brief Introduction to Supersymmetry.- A.5 A Brief Introduction to Supergravity.- A.6 Notation.- References.

Editorial Reviews

From the reviews

Foundations of Physics, on the first edition:

"... the dedicated reader...will be well versed in this fascinating area of theoretical physics."

Physics Today, on the first edition:

"...presents a pedagogical survey on string theory. It covers material from early developments to present-day research ... divided into three parts ... results of quantization, string field theory, and phenomenology ... an impressive effort..."

FOUNDATIONS OF PHYSICS

"Kaku’s book, at 568 pages, is a comprehensive, self-contained text on string theory…[It] contains useful summaries of mathematical topics such as index theory, cohomology, and Kahler manifolds. This is a book for the really serious student of string theory; the dedicated reader who emerges after page 568 will be well versed in this fascinating area of theoretical physics.”

From the Publisher