This book addresses several aspects of the integrable structure of the AdS/CFT correspondence. In particular it presents computations made on both sides of the AdS/CFT correspondence, at weak and at strong coupling. On the string theory side of the correspondence, the book focuses on the evaluation of the energy spectrum of closed string solutions moving in some deformed backgrounds that preserve integrability. On the gauge theory side, it explores various formal problems arising in the computation of two and three-point functions by means of the Algebraic Bethe Ansatz and the Quantum Inverse Scattering method. The book features numerous results on integrability in the context of the AdS/CFT correspondence. Self-contained and pedagogical, it includes general discussions and detailed presentations on the use of integrable systems techniques and their applications.
Providing a pedagogical introduction to the rapidly developing field of AdS/CFT correspondence, this is one of the first texts to provide an accessible introduction to all the necessary concepts needed to engage with the methods, tools and applications of AdS/CFT. Without assuming anything beyond an introductory course in quantum field theory, it begins by guiding the reader through the basic concepts of field theory and gauge theory, general relativity, supersymmetry, supergravity, string theory and conformal field theory, before moving on to give a clear and rigorous account of AdS/CFT correspondence. The final section discusses the more specialised applications, including QCD, quark-gluon plasma and condensed matter. This book is self-contained and learner-focused, featuring numerous exercises and examples. It is essential reading for both students and researchers across the fields of particle, nuclear and condensed matter physics.
This book covers some recent advances in string theory and extra dimensions. Intended mainly for advanced graduate students in theoretical physics, it presents a rare combination of formal and phenomenological topics, based on the annual lectures given at the School of the Theoretical Advanced Study Institute (2001) — a traditional event that brings together graduate students in high energy physics for an intensive course of advanced learning. The lecturers in the School are leaders in their fields.The first lecture, by E D'Hoker and D Freedman, is a systematic introduction to the gauge-gravity correspondence, focusing in particular on correlation functions in the conformal case. The second, by L Dolan, provides an introduction to perturbative string theory, including recent advances on backgrounds involving Ramond-Ramond fluxes. The third, by S Gubser, explains some of the basic facts about special holonomy and its uses in string theory and M-theory. The fourth, by J Hewett, surveys the TeV phenomenology of theories with large extra dimensions. The fifth, by G Kane, presents the case for supersymmetry at the weak scale and some of its likely experimental consequences. The sixth, by A Liddle, surveys recent developments in cosmology, particularly with regard to recent measurements of the CMB and constraints on inflation. The seventh, by B Ovrut, presents the basic features of heterotic M-theory, including constructions that contain the Standard Model. The eighth, by K Rajagopal, explains the recent advances in understanding QCD at low temperatures and high densities in terms of color superconductivity. The ninth, by M Sher, summarizes grand unified theories and baryogenesis, including discussions of supersymmetry breaking and the Standard Model Higgs mechanism. The tenth, by M Spiropulu, describes collider physics, from a survey of current and future machines to examples of data analyses relevant to theories beyond the Standard Model. The eleventh, by M Strassler, is an introduction to supersymmetric gauge theory, focusing on Wilsonian renormalization and analogies between three- and four-dimensional theories. The twelfth, by W Taylor and B Zwiebach, introduces string field theory and discusses recent advances in understanding open string tachyon condensation. The thirteenth, by D Waldram, discusses explicit model building in heterotic M-theory, emphasizing the role of the E8 gauge fields.The written presentation of these lectures is detailed yet straightforward, and they will be of use to both students and experienced researchers in high-energy theoretical physics for years to come.The proceedings have been selected for coverage in:• Index to Scientific & Technical Proceedings (ISTP CDROM version / ISI Proceedings)• CC Proceedings — Engineering & Physical Sciences
The book aims to analyze and explore deep and profound relations between string field theory, higher spin gauge theories and holography — the disciplines that have been on the cutting edge of theoretical high energy physics and other fields. These intriguing relations and connections involve some profound ideas in number theory, which appear to be part of a unifying language to describe these connections.
The conference String-Math 2014 was held from June 9–13, 2014, at the University of Alberta. This edition of String-Math is the first to include satellite workshops: “String-Math Summer School” (held from June 2–6, 2014, at the University of British Columbia), “Calabi-Yau Manifolds and their Moduli” (held from June 14–18, 2014, at the University of Alberta), and “Quantum Curves and Quantum Knot Invariants” (held from June 16–20, 2014, at the Banff International Research Station). This volume presents the proceedings of the conference and satellite workshops. For mathematics, string theory has been a source of many significant inspirations, ranging from Seiberg-Witten theory in four-manifolds, to enumerative geometry and Gromov-Witten theory in algebraic geometry, to work on the Jones polynomial in knot theory, to recent progress in the geometric Langlands program and the development of derived algebraic geometry and n-category theory. In the other direction, mathematics has provided physicists with powerful tools, ranging from powerful differential geometric techniques for solving or analyzing key partial differential equations, to toric geometry, to K-theory and derived categories in D-branes, to the analysis of Calabi-Yau manifolds and string compactifications, to modular forms and other arithmetic techniques. Articles in this book address many of these topics.
This volume is a compilation of lectures delivered at the TASI 2015 summer school, 'New Frontiers in Fields and Strings', held at the University of Colorado Boulder in June 2015. The school focused on topics in theoretical physics of interest to contemporary researchers in quantum field theory and string theory. The lectures are accessible to graduate students in the initial stages of their research careers.
The interaction and cross-fertilization of mathematics and physics is ubiquitous in the history of both disciplines. In particular, the recent developments of string theory have led to some relatively new areas of common interest among mathematicians and physicists, some of which are explored in the papers in this volume. These papers provide a reasonably comprehensive sampling of the potential for fruitful interaction between mathematicians and physicists that exists as a result of string theory.
This 2003 book is a rigorous introduction to the theory of complex angular momenta, based on the methods of field theory. This is an English translation of the famous lecture course given by Vladimir Gribov in 1969. Besides their historical significance, these lectures are highly relevant to modern research in theoretical physics.
This thesis introduces readers to the type II superstring theories in the AdS5×S5 and AdS4×CP3 backgrounds. Each chapter exemplifies a different computational approach to measuring observables (conformal dimensions of single-trace operators and expectation values of Wilson loop operators) relevant for two supersymmetric theories: the N=4 super Yang-Mills theory and the N=6 Chern-Simons-matter (ABJM) theory. Perturbative techniques have traditionally been used to make quantitative predictions in quantum field theories, but they are only reliable as long as the interaction strengths are weak. The anti-de Sitter/conformal field theory (AdS/CFT) correspondence realizes physicists’ dream of studying strongly coupled quantum field theories with “enhanced” symmetries, using the methods provided by string theory. The first part of the thesis sets up the semiclassical quantization of worldsheet sigma-model actions around string solutions of least area in AdS space. This machinery is used to capture quantum corrections at large coupling to next-to-leading and next-to-next-to-leading order by solving the determinants of partial differential operators and by computing Feynman diagrams, respectively. In turn, the second part presents an innovative approach based on Monte Carlo simulations to finite coupling for a lattice-discretized model of the AdS5×S5 superstring action. The thesis focuses on fundamental aspects, as well as on applications previously published by the author, and offers a valuable reference work for anyone interested in the most recent developments in this field.
This volume is the first of three in a series surveying the theory of theta functions. Based on lectures given by the author at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in Bombay, these volumes constitute a systematic exposition of theta functions, beginning with their historical roots as analytic functions in one variable (Volume I), touching on some of the beautiful ways they can be used to describe moduli spaces (Volume II), and culminating in a methodical comparison of theta functions in analysis, algebraic geometry, and representation theory (Volume III).
