Introduction to String Theory

The module description from the syllabus is available here.

Groups

Time	Place	Tutor
Tuesday, 10:15 - 12:00	Conference Room 1, PI	Michael Blaszczyk & Fabian Ruehle

Exercise sheets

No	Exercise sheet
00	Nambu-Goto and Polyakov action for point particles, EM Tensor
01	Classical String EOMs, String Quantization
02	Virasoro Algebra, Critical Dimension of the Bosonic String
03	Zeta Function, Gamma Matrices
04	Anomalies in 4D and in 10D
05	String on a Circle and a Torus
06	KK reduction of Fermions, Dimensional reduction from 11D to 10D IIA
07	Differential Forms, Stückelberg mechanism
08	D0 branes, BPS States
09	Green-Schwarz terms from M-Theory
10	PSL(2,Z) and T-Duality of D Branes

Requirements for final exam

In order to be admitted to the final exam the following requirements have to be met:

• Active participation in the tutorials
• Solutions to the exercises have to be presented at least twice in the tutorials
• Approx. 50% of the credits from all exercise sheets

Prerequesites

Group Theory, Theoretical Particle Physics I and II, QFT

Contents

• Bosonic String Theory, Elementary Conformal Field Theory
• Kaluza-Klein Theory
• Crash Course in Supersymmetry
• Superstring Theory
• Heterotic String Theory
• Compactification, Duality, D-Branes
• M-Theory

Literature

• D. Lüst, S. Theisen: Lectures on String Theory
  (Springer, New York 1989)
• S. Förste: Strings, Branes and Extra Dimensions
  (Fortsch. Phys. 50 (2002) 221, arxiv:hep-th/0110055)
• C. Johnson: D-Brane Primer
  (Cambridge University Press 2003)
• M. Green, J. Schwarz, E. Witten: Superstring Theory I & II
  (Cambridge University Press 1988)
• H.P. Nilles: Supersymmetry and phenomenology
  (Phys. Reps. 110 C (1984) 1)
• J. Polchinski: String Theory I & II
  (Cambridge University Press 2005)